Brain Function In Autism Improves With Oxytocin

Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study shows that oxytocin, a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body, increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

According to the researchers, the findings provide the first, critical steps toward devising more effective treatments for the core social deficits in autism, which may involve a combination of clinical interventions with an administration of oxytocin. Such a treatment approach will fundamentally improve the understanding of autism and its treatment.

Social-communicative dysfunctions are a core characteristic of autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that can have an enormous emotional and financial burden on the affected individual, their families, and society.

The researchers said that while a great deal of progress has been made in the field of autism research, there remain few effective treatments and none that directly target the core social dysfunction. Oxytocin has recently received attention for its involvement in regulating social abilities because of its role in many aspects of social behavior and social cognition in humans and other species.

To assess the impact of oxytocin on the brain function, the researchers conducted a first-of-its-kind, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 with autism spectrum disorders. They gave the children a single dose of oxytocin in a nasal spray and used functional magnetic resonance brain imaging to observe its effect.

They found that oxytocin increased activations in brain regions known to process social information. They said these brain activations were linked to tasks involving multiple social information processing routes, such as seeing, hearing, and processing information relevant to understanding other people.

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