Autism And Oxytocin: Nasal Spray Benefits Children With Behavioral Disorder

New findings published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry reveal that oxytocin, a hormone that plays a role in social bonding, may be helpful in improving emotional and behavioral issues among youth with autism.

While behavioral therapies can help improve social, emotional and behavioral impairments in children dealing with autism, they are much more time consuming (typically 40 hours per week) and remain quite costly, with potentially mixed outcomes. Researchers found that overall, a nasal oxytocin spray was typically well tolerated in most participants, with common adverse events ranging from constipation and urination to thirst.

In this recent study, researchers looked at 31 children aged three to eight years of age who received a twice daily course of oxytocin in the form of a nasal spray.

Previous studies have documented the benefits of oxytocin, showing that in many humans, it can enhance eye gaze, memory and emotion recognition.

"The potential to use such simple treatments to enhance the longer-term benefits of other behavioural, educational and technology-based therapies is very exciting," said study co-author and co-director of the Brain and Mind Centre, Professor Ian Hickie, in a news release.

Most recently the team has linked observed changes from treatment to brain changes associated with social circuitry. The next step in the research is to understand exactly how oxytocin changes brain circuitry to improve social behavior, and to document how related treatments might be used to boost established social learning interventions.

Statistics from Autism Society suggest that over 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder and about 1 percent of the world population has autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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