An investigation of the effects of intranasal oxytocin on socio-emotional brain regions in Huntington’s disease

INTERVENTION: Two acute (24 IU) treatment conditions including; a) intranasal placebo, and b) intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon, Novartis, Switzerland). The two treatment conditions will be separated by a minimum of 1 week (washout period). The nasal sprays will be administered 50 mins prior to the functional magnetic resonance (fMR) protocol. The fMRI protocol will involve showing participants a brief task involving pictures of human faces expressing different emotions. CONDITION: Huntington's disease PRIMARY OUTCOME: Functional MRI (fMRI) data will be collected in response to an emotional face expression task. The fMRI data will be compared within the patient (Huntington's disease) group for differences in brain response (e.g., in the amygdala) between placebo and oxytocin conditions. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Using the fMRI data, the patients with Huntington's disease will be compared to controls on brain response (e.g., amygdala) under normal (placebo) conditions to see whether hyper‐ or hypo‐activity is present. INCLUSION CRITERIA: For Healthy controls: Males; Right‐handed; between the ages of 25‐55 years; non‐smoker and no drug/alcohol abuse; medication free; and no metal objects present in body (or which can't be removed or which is not MRI safe). For Huntington's disease (HD): As above plus a diagnosis of the disease is required.