Background: Human social behavior is modulated by oxytocin (OT). Intranasal administration of OT (IN-OT) is a noninvasive route shown to elicit changes in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity; however, IN-OT’s effect on the temporal profile of ANS activity at rest is yet to be described. Aims: We aimed to describe the temporal profile of IN-OT at six 10-min time windows from 15- to 100-min post-administration in 20 male participants at rest while continuously recording their pupillary in an eyes-open condition and cardiac activity in eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Methods: We used a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design study where we extracted two proxies of parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity: high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) and pupillary unrest index (PUI); and a proxy of sympathetic nervous system activity: sample entropy of the pupillary unrest. Results: In the eyes-open condition, we found an effect of IN-OT on the proxies of PNS activity: decreased PUI in the three-time windows post-administration spanning 65–100 min, and as an exploratory finding, an increased HF-HRV in the 80–85 min time window. Conclusions: We suggest there is a role of OT in PNS regulation that may be consistent with OT’s currently theorized role in the facilitation of alertness and approach behavior.

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Electrocardiography,Neuropeptide,Pharmacodynamics,Pupil unrest,Resting state

• Health Sciences - Medical and Health Sciences
• Psychology - Social Sciences