There are no available medications for treating autism’s core symptoms, but there are several candidates in clinical trials. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele describes the factors researchers must take into account when developing drugs for the disorder.
Watch the complete replay of Larry Young’s webinar on how studying the mating behavior of prairie voles may lead to novel treatments for autism.
Genetic variants in a receptor for the hormone oxytocin may contribute to the range of social skills seen in individuals with and without autism, suggests a study published 4 February in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Treatment with the hormone oxytocin boosts brain activity and improves recognition of emotions in people with autism, according to two small studies published in February.
The blood pressure drug bumetanide normalizes a deficit in brain activity in two rodent models of autism, according to a study published last week in Science. The study hints at a mechanism underlying the drug’s benefits for people with autism.
Oxytocin, the infamous ‘love hormone,’ may attune the brains of people with autism to respond to social information such as facial expressions, researchers reported 2 December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study boosts oxytocin’s promise for treating the social deficits seen in autism.
Long-term treatment with oxytocin impairs prairie voles’ ability to produce the hormone on their own, according to unpublished results presented Monday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
Oxytocin may make social interactions more rewarding for mice by stimulating the release of serotonin, a chemical messenger involved in mood, according to a study published 12 September in Nature.
Oxytocin may enhance brain signaling by increasing the strength of the signals and minimizing background noise, according to a study published 4 August in Nature.
Oxytocin may well have established its reputation as the ‘social hormone’ in the popular imagination, but it has no effect on symptoms in children with autism, according to a study published 26 July in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.