PNAS：催产素和自闭症
一项研究发现，为高功能自闭症患者提供催产素看上去可以促进社会行为。尽管Asperger综合征和其他高功能自闭症谱疾病的患者具有智力功能，他们通常不能正确地在社会环境下与他人交往。催产素是一种在社会行为和情绪中激活的激素；此前的研究证明了某些自闭症儿童体内缺乏这种激素。
Angela Sirigu及其同事通过吸入给药方式为13位高功能自闭症谱疾病提供催产素，并通过测量患者的血液浓度从而证实了这种激素的分布。为了测量行为的变化，这组科学家观察了这些患者及对照组在一个虚拟传球游戏中的表现。在另一个实验中，这组作者测量了患者观看人脸照片的时候对社会重要线索的留意程度。这组作者说，那些接受了吸入催产素治疗的患者表现出了在观看人脸时候的对视觉线索更加留意以及在虚拟传球游戏中比对照组更可能处理社会线索。尽管在社会响应方面存在相当大的个体差异，这组作者提出，这些结果表明应该对长期使用催产素促进社会行为进行更多的研究。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PNAS February 16, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0910249107
Promoting social behavior with oxytocin in high-functioning autism spectrum disorders
Elissar Andaria, Jean-René Duhamela, Tiziana Zallab, Evelyn Herbrechtb, Marion Leboyerb, and Angela Sirigua,1
aCentre de Neuroscience Cognitive, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5229, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 69675 Bron, France; and
bInstitut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U 841, Department of Psychiatry, H?pital Chenevier-Mondor, 94000 Créteil, France
Social adaptation requires specific cognitive and emotional competences. Individuals with high-functioning autism or with Asperger syndrome cannot understand or engage in social situations despite preserved intellectual abilities. Recently, it has been suggested that oxytocin, a hormone known to promote mother-infant bonds, may be implicated in the social deficit of autism. We investigated the behavioral effects of oxytocin in 13 subjects with autism. In a simulated ball game where participants interacted with fictitious partners, we found that after oxytocin inhalation, patients exhibited stronger interactions with the most socially cooperative partner and reported enhanced feelings of trust and preference. Also, during free viewing of pictures of faces, oxytocin selectively increased patients’ gazing time on the socially informative region of the face, namely the eyes. Thus, under oxytocin, patients respond more strongly to others and exhibit more appropriate social behavior and affect, suggesting a therapeutic potential of oxytocin through its action on a core dimension of autism.
