{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T12:58:32Z","timestamp":1792155512593,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,26]],"date-time":"2018-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1535241600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study is aimed at relating social cognition in Huntington\u2019s Disease (HD) to plasma levels of the social hormone oxytocin (OT). Indeed, HD patients commonly display reduced social skills and OT is involved in bonding behavior and improved recognition of facial emotions. Twelve mild-symptomatic HD patients (stage II Shoulson &amp; Fahn) and 11 gender\/age matched controls (healthy controls, HC), without concurrent psychiatric disorders, were investigated at baseline (T0) for OT plasma levels and social cognition through an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Social cognition was also re-examined after two years (T1) in 8 of the 12 patients. Results showed a trend for reduced T0-OT levels in HD vs. HC, mean \u00b1 stardard deviation: 6.5 \u00b1 2.4 vs. 9.9 \u00b1 7.2 pg\/mL, without reaching statistical significance. At T0, patients showed significantly lower performances than controls at the \u201cFaux-Pas\u201d and \u201cStrange Stories\u201d tests (p &lt; 0.05; p &lt; 0.01); a reduced perception of visual emotions (p &lt; 0.01) and verbal stimuli (p &lt; 0.01) was also reported, involving anger, fear, and sadness (p &lt; 0.05; p &lt; 0.01). Additionally, in the HD population, OT concentrations positively correlated with T1-performances at Neutral\\Faux-Pas test (p &lt; 0.05), whereas the cognitive Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores positively correlated with psychosocial perception at the \u201cStrange Stories\u201d and Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) tests (p &lt; 0.05). This study, despite its limitations, supports correlations between OT and HD social cognition, suggesting a possible therapeutic use of this hormone. More subjects and additional body tissues\/fluids, such as cerebrospinal fluid, should be investigated to confirm this hypothesis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci8090161","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,27]],"date-time":"2018-08-27T10:56:04Z","timestamp":1535367364000},"page":"161","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Social Cognition and Oxytocin in Huntington\u2019s Disease: New Insights"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Elisa","family":"Unti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Neurology Unit, Apuane Hospital, 54100 Massa-Carrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sonia","family":"Mazzucchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela","family":"Frosini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Pagni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gloria","family":"Tognoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lionella","family":"Palego","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6357-8983","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Betti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabiana","family":"Miraglia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gino","family":"Giannaccini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberto","family":"Ceravolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(10)70245-3","article-title":"Huntington\u2019s disease: From molecular pathogenesis to clinical treatment","volume":"10","author":"Ross","year":"2011","journal-title":"Lancet Neurol."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Bates, G., Harper, P.S., and Jones, L. 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