A single spritz of oxytocin nasal spray could help children struggling with autism spectrum disorder.
Researchers found the treatment greatly improved brain activity during social interactions in autistic children, a Yale University news release reported.
Oxytocin is a natural hormone that is created in the brain and in other parts of the body.
"This is the first study to evaluate the impact of oxytocin on brain function in children with autism spectrum disorders," first author Ilanit Gordon, a Yale Child Study Center adjunct assistant professor, said in the news release.
Gordon and Kevin Pelphrey, the Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, and director of the Center for Translational Developmental Neuroscience at Yale conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with the aid of their team. The researchers observed 17 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
The participants were between the ages of eight and 16.5. The study subjects were given either an oxytocin nasal spray or a "placebo" spray that was not enhanced with medication of any kind. The patients were then asked to engage in a social interaction.
"We found that brain centers associated with reward and emotion recognition responded more during social tasks when children received oxytocin instead of the placebo," Gordon said. "Oxytocin temporarily normalized brain regions responsible for the social deficits seen in children with autism."
Oxytocin is believed to help "facilitate social attunement"; which is a process that engages the brain in social behavior and causes certain regions to activate more when encountered with social stimuli (like faces) and less with non-social stimuli (like trees).
"Our results are particularly important considering the urgent need for treatments to target social dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders," Gordon said.
Other authors that participated in the study include: Brent C. Vander Wyk, Randi H. Bennett, Cara Cordeaux Zagoory-Sharon, James F. Leckman, and Ruth Feldman
