title: Oxytocin increases retention of social cognition in autism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oxytocin dysfunction might contribute to the development of social deficits in autism, a core symptom domain and potential target for intervention. This study explored the effect of intravenous oxytocin administration on the retention of social information in autism.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oxytocin and placebo challenges were administered to 15 adult subjects diagnosed with autism or Asperger's disorder, and comprehension of affective speech (happy, indifferent, angry, and sad) in neutral content sentences was tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All subjects showed improvements in affective speech comprehension from pre- to post-infusion; however, whereas those who received placebo first tended to revert to baseline after a delay, those who received oxytocin first retained the ability to accurately assign emotional significance to speech intonation on the speech comprehension task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are consistent with studies linking oxytocin to social recognition in rodents as well as studies linking oxytocin to prosocial behavior in humans and suggest that oxytocin might facilitate social information processing in those with autism. These findings also provide preliminary support for the use of oxytocin in the treatment of autism.
authors.affiliation: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA. eric.hollander@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hollander
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartz
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chaplin
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sumner
authors.forename: Latha
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Soorya
authors.forename: Evdokia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anagnostou
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000187:drug effects; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010120:Oxytocics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013060:Speech / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D010120:Oxytocics; D010121:Oxytocin