Morphofunctional Alterations of the Hypothalamus and Social Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

ABSTRACT: An accumulating body of evidence indicates a tight relationship between the endocrine system and abnormal social behavior. Two evolutionarily conserved hypothalamic peptides, oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin, because of their extensively documented function in supporting and regulating affiliative and socio-emotional responses, have attracted great interest for their critical implications for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A large number of controlled trials demonstrated that exogenous oxytocin or arginine-vasopressin administration can mitigate social behavior impairment in ASD. Furthermore, there exists long-standing evidence of severe socioemotional dysfunctions after hypothalamic lesions in animals and humans. However, despite the major role of the hypothalamus for the synthesis and

SUBMITTER: Caria A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7408098 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature