{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T02:13:40Z","timestamp":1790734420892,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675123200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>Anorexia nervosa (AN) is commonly associated with depression, anxiety, and deficits in socioemotional functioning. Basal levels of oxytocin, a neurohormone with antidepressant, anxiolytic, and prosocial properties, are low in women with AN. However, the relationship between oxytocin and psychopathology of AN\/atypical AN has not been examined in individuals with primarily food restriction (AN\/AtypAN-R) or those with restriction plus binge\/purge behaviors (AN\/AtypAN-BP) alone, which is important to further elucidate the neurobiology of different AN presentations. We investigated whether oxytocin levels are related to eating, affective, and socioemotional psychopathology in women with AN\/AtypAN-R and separately AN\/AtypAN-BP.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In a cross-sectional study of 53 women with low-weight AN or atypical AN based on DSM-5 (AN\/AtypAN-R: n=21, AN\/AtypAN-BP: n=32), we obtained fasting serum oxytocin levels and self-report measures of psychopathology, including the Eating Disorder Examination\u2013Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Beck Depression Inventory-IA (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>In individuals with AN\/AtypAN-R, oxytocin levels were negatively associated with eating psychopathology (EDE-Q Global Score: r=-0.49, p=0.024), depressive and anxiety symptoms (BDI Total Score: r=-0.55, p=0.009; STAI Trait Score: r=-0.63, p=0.002), and socioemotional symptoms (TAS-20 Difficulty Identifying Feelings Score: r=-0.49, p=0.023). In contrast, in those with AN\/AtypAN-BP oxytocin levels were negatively associated with depressive symptoms only (BDI Total Score: r=-0.52, p=0.049).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>These findings support the notion that AN\/AtypAN-R and AN\/AtypAN-BP might have divergent underlying neurobiology. Understanding these differences is crucial to develop targeted treatments for a population with high levels of chronicity, for which no specific pharmacological treatments are currently available.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Clinical trial registration<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:uri>https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov<\/jats:uri>, identifier: NCT01121211.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2022.1049541","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T05:34:28Z","timestamp":1675143268000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Low oxytocin levels are broadly associated with more pronounced psychopathology in anorexia nervosa with primarily restricting but not binge\/purge eating behavior"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Franziska","family":"Plessow","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesca","family":"Galbiati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kamryn T.","family":"Eddy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Madhusmita","family":"Misra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen K.","family":"Miller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anne","family":"Klibanski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Aulinas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth 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