Research
Oxytocin
A nine-amino-acid peptide with an internal disulfide bond closing six of its residues into a ring. Made in the hypothalamus and released from the posterior pituitary.
Available in the catalogue
Supplied as research material. Sizes and pricing are on the product page. Availability is not a statement about what a compound does.
What is being investigated
Directions the published work points at, and how far each has actually got. These are open questions, not established effects: most of what looks promising in cells does not replicate in animals, and most of what works in animals does not work in people. Nothing here is a claim about what this compound does for anyone.
- Labour induction and postpartum haemorrhage
Its established clinical use, on uterine smooth muscle, and the direction with by far the strongest evidence behind it. It is also the one nobody comes to this page for.
Human trials
- Social cognition and bonding
A very large behavioural literature built on intranasal administration, and one that has replicated poorly under scrutiny. How much reaches the brain from the nose at all is itself unresolved.
Human trials Did not work
- Social functioning in autism spectrum conditions
The direction the behavioural work led to, and where it was tested properly: a large randomised trial in children and adolescents found no benefit over placebo. That result is more informative than the dozens of small positive ones before it.
Human trials Did not work
- Separating it from vasopressin
A methodological problem rather than an application. The two hormones differ by two amino acids and cross-react at each other's receptors, which complicates the interpretation of most of the behavioural literature above.
Animal studies
Published research
Every reference below was checked against the published record before being listed, with the model each study used.
- Kiani et al. (2023)CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets · 22(6):906–15
An updated pooled analysis of randomised controlled trials of oxytocin in adults with autism.
human, systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials Source
- Hasselbalch et al. (2020)Psychopharmacology · 237(10):2891–903
Examined methodological shortcomings in the existing studies of intranasal oxytocin in anorexia nervosa and healthy controls, reporting problems in design and analysis that limit what the literature can support.
human, systematic review and meta-analysis Source
Further reading
Longer articles on handling, analysis and what the published work reports.
- Oxytocin: what the research says
A settled obstetric medicine with a behavioural literature that became one of psychology's clearest replication problems. Both halves belong together.
- How to store research peptides
Lyophilised peptides at -20°C, reconstituted at 2–8°C, ambient in transit. Why the dry cake tolerates shipping, and what actually degrades a vial.
- Peptide shelf life and stability
How long lyophilised and reconstituted peptides keep, and the four things that shorten it: temperature, moisture, light and oxidation. Storage figures included.
- How to reconstitute lyophilised peptides
How to reconstitute a lyophilised peptide with bacteriostatic water without damaging it: why you run the liquid down the vial wall and never shake it.