Can repeated intranasal oxytocin administration affect reduced neural sensitivity towards expressive faces in autism? A randomized controlled trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulties in social communication and interaction.

Crucial for efficient social interaction is the ability to quickly and accurately extract information from a person's face.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were children.

At baseline, neural assessments of children with ASD were compared with those of an age- and gender-matched cohort of neurotypical (NT) children (n = 39).

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Oxytocin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.

Neural effects were assessed at baseline, post-nasal spray (24 hr after the last nasal spray) and at a follow-up session, 4 weeks after the OT administration period.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Autistic Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oxytocin and Nasal Sprays.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Autism spectrum disorders, expressive face discrimination, frequency-tagging EEG and repeated oxytocin administration.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2023 (Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.