Oxytocin-based pharmacotherapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders: Investigating the neural and behavioral effects of a promising intervention approach.

To date, autism is known as a lifelong disorder with extensive implications on social and communicative domains for which no effective treatment exist. In terms of pharmacological interventions, initial promising results are emerging for intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide that promotes prosocial behavior, social awareness and social motivation. Yet, although promising, the field is in urgent need of studies addressing not only the behavioral effects of this intervention but also the associated neurophysiological changes by guiding the intervention protocol with regular neurophysiological assessments. A specific interest of the current project lies in assessing whether oxytocin-based therapies can enhance the neural communications or connectivity within social brain networks. In normal development, the neural circuits that underlie human social behavior are not fixed, but constantly change from interactions with our surroundings. The current project involves a large, long-term, randomized, placebo-controlled study to test whether plastic neural changes can be specifically enhanced from neuropeptide treatments that outlast the time of stimulation. These insights are essential to evaluate the true therapeutic potential of oxytocin for ASD.