Impact of chronic intranasal oxytocin administration on face expression processing in autistic children: a randomized controlled trial using fMRI
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Difficulties with (non-verbal) social communication, including facial expression processing, constitute a hallmark of autism. Intranasal administration of oxytocin has been considered a potential therapeutic option for improving social difficulties in autism, either by enhancing the salience of social cues or by reducing the social stress and anxiety experienced in social encounters. METHODS: We recorded fMRI brain activity while presenting neutral, fearful and scrambled faces, to compare the neural face processing signature of autistic children (n = 58) with that of matched non-autistic controls (n = 38). Next, in the autistic children group, we implemented this fMRI face processing task in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple-dose oxytocin clinical trial, to evaluate the impact of four-week repeated oxytocin administration (24 IU daily dose) on brain activity in face processing regions. RESULTS: No significant diagnostic-group differences were identified between autistic versus non-autistic children with regard to neural face processing. Furthermore, no significant treatment effects were found in the oxytocin clinical trial. However, exploratory analyses (uncorrected for multiple comparisons) demonstrated decreases in brain activity in the left superior temporal sulcus (STS) and inferior frontal region in the oxytocin compared to the placebo group, and change-from-baseline analyses in the oxytocin group revealed significantly reduced neural activity in the core face-processing network (STS, inferior occipital, and posterior fusiform), as well as in amygdala and inferior frontal region. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest an attenuating effect of multiple-dose oxytocin administration on neural face processing, potentially supporting the anxiolytic account of oxytocin.
Source: Molecular Autism
Institution: KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,790
Awards: Boosting social attunement in autism via interpersonal sensorimotor synchronization therapy, G1444086006, Enhancing social attunement in autism via combined oxytocin and interpersonal sensorimotor synchronization therapy, G4682053707, G4898081932, G5361482167, Effects of oxytocin treatment in boys with autism with and without intellectual disability: a verification trial with long-term follow-up, Fundamental mechanisms of human visual categorization: Neural basis, development and plasticity, G6047404604, An in-depth investigation of neurovisceral integration and regulation in children with autism spectrum disorders., G7674584999, G7687753209, G8264301793, G833219365, G8371398524
OpenAlex ID: W4405657649