Impact of chronic intranasal oxytocin administration on face expression processing in autistic children: a randomized controlled trial using fMRI.

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,

SUBMITTER: Moerkerke M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11662540 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature