Oxytocin on Cold Water Task Performance and Recovery

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Trial end date: 2023-06-30
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Male

Summary

Naval Special Warfare (NSW) operators are exposed to a variety of extreme environmental conditions and intense physical demands. In addition to breathing high pressure gases at depth, prolonged cold water immersion and inadequate recovery from sustained physical exertion negatively impact individual and team performance. Biotechnologies that could mitigate the effects of cold as well as support physical recovery represent a significant unmet need for the NSW operational community.

Oxytocin (OT) has a wide range of actions both locally in the brain and peripherally in the body including skeletal muscle. These peripheral effects can be mediated by classic ligand-receptor activation given the abundant expression of the oxytocin receptor in peripheral tissues, along with local expression of OT in peripheral tissues where it is likely to act in an autocrine manner. Exogenous OT via intranasal administration is FDA Investigational New Drug (IND)-approved and has been demonstrated as an easy and safe method to increase circulating OT concentrations that may augment actions on peripheral tissues.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
• Collaborators: Office of Naval Research (ONR); University of Florida
• Treatments: Oxytocin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Recreationally skilled swimmers

Exclusion Criteria:

• Smoking/vaping, a history of psychiatric disorders, safety requirements related to the oxytocin administration [hypersensitivity to oxytocin or vasopressin, history of hyponatremia, syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion, or psychogenic polydipsia, on vasoconstrictors such as desmopressin, pseudoephedrine, or antidiuretic medication, or anti-inflammatory drugs, or muscle relaxants, low sodium and high osmolality levels, excessive smoking, excessive drinking, and significant nasal pathology.