title: Plasma Oxytocin and Arginine-Vasopressin Levels in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in China: Associations with Symptoms.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by impairments of social interaction and the presence of obsessive behaviors. The "twin" nonapeptides oxytocin (OXT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are known to play regulatory roles in social behaviors. However, the plasma levels and behavioral relevance of OXT and AVP in children with ASD have seldom been investigated. It is also unknown whether their mothers have abnormal plasma peptide levels. Here, using well-established methods of neuropeptide measurement and a relatively large sample size, we determined the plasma levels of the two neuropeptides in 85 normal children, 84 children with ASD, and 31 mothers from each group of children. As expected, children with ASD had lower plasma OXT levels than gender-matched controls (P = 0.028). No such difference was found for plasma AVP concentrations. Correlation analysis showed that ASD children with higher plasma OXT concentrations tended to have less impairment of verbal communication (Rho = -0.22, P = 0.076), while those with higher plasma AVP levels tended to have lower levels of repetitive use of objects (Rho = -0.231, P = 0.079). Unlike the findings in children, maternal plasma OXT levels showed no group difference. However, plasma AVP levels in the mothers of ASD children tended to be lower than in the mothers of normal children (P = 0.072). In conclusion, our results suggest that the OXT system is dysregulated in children with ASD, and that OXT and AVP levels in plasma seem to be associated with specific autistic symptoms. The plasma levels of OXT or AVP in mothers and their ASD children did not seem to change in the same direction.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.|Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Ministry of Education/National Health and Family Planning Commission, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.|Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Ministry of Education/National Health and Family Planning Commission, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Chuan
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Center of Medical and Health Analysis, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Mei-Xiang
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Center of Rehabilitation, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100045, China.
authors.forename: Ji-Shui
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.|Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Ministry of Education/National Health and Family Planning Commission, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jing
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Shou
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Song-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. zhangrong@bjmu.edu.cn.|Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China. zhangrong@bjmu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Ministry of Education/National Health and Family Planning Commission, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. zhangrong@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. hanjisheng@bjmu.edu.cn.|Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China. hanjisheng@bjmu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Ministry of Education/National Health and Family Planning Commission, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. hanjisheng@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ji-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000097:blood*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000097:blood*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D001127:Arginine Vasopressin; D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Behavioral relevance; Oxytocin; Vasopressin