ArticleTranslational psychiatry2018
Effect of age and autism spectrum disorder on oxytocin receptor density in the human basal forebrain and midbrain.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacological and dietary-supplement treatments for autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Molecular autism · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Brainstem Contributions to Autism Spectrum Disorder.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Age-dependent effects of oxytocin in brain regions enriched with oxytocin receptors.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Trial
- Intranasal Oxytocin in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.The New England journal of medicine · 2021Trial
- Oxytocin and RAGE signaling at the intersection of social neurodevelopment and inflammation.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Oxytocin receptor gene expression in the basal forebrain in autism: association with receptor binding levels and single nucleotide polymorphisms.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2026Article
- Oxytocin receptor gene expression in the basal forebrain in autism: association with receptor binding levels and single nucleotide polymorphisms.Research square · 2025Article
- The Oxytocin System and Implications for Oxytocin Deficiency in Hypothalamic-Pituitary Disease.Endocrine reviews · 2025Review
- An oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism is associated with distinct neural responses to mating encounters in male prairie voles.Hormones and behavior · 2025Article
- Radiomic and proteomic signatures of body mass index on brain ageing and Alzheimer's-like patterns of brain atrophy.EBioMedicine · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal Mapping of the Oxytocin Receptor at Single-Cell Resolution in the Postnatally Developing Mouse Brain.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- Sex-Specific Impacts of Early Life Sleep Disruption: Ethanol Seeking, Social Interaction, and Anxiety Are Differentially Altered in Adolescent Prairie Voles.Developmental psychobiology · 2024Article
- Deciphering autism heterogeneity: a molecular stratification approach in four mouse models.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Long range projections of oxytocin neurons in the marmoset brain.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The domestic chick as an animal model of autism spectrum disorder: building adaptive social perceptions through prenatally formed predispositions.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Detection, processing and reinforcement of social cues: regulation by the oxytocin system.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Salivary Oxytocin and Antioxidative Response to Robotic Touch in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Roles of the Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) in Human Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Effect of sex and autism spectrum disorder on oxytocin receptor binding and mRNA expression in the dopaminergic pars compacta of the human substantia nigra.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Autism-like symptoms by exposure to air pollution and valproic acid-induced in male rats.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The prosocial hormone oxytocin (OXT) has become a new target for research on the etiology and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition characterized by deficits in social function. However, it remains unknown whether there are alterations in OXT receptor (OXTR) levels in the ASD brain. This study quantified the density of OXTR and of the structurally related vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a) in postmortem brain tissue from individuals with ASD and typically developing individuals. We analyzed two regions known to contain OXTR across all primates studied to date: the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM), which mediates visual attention, and the superior colliculus, which controls gaze direction. In the NBM specimens, we also analyzed the neighboring ventral pallidum (VP) and the external segment of the globus pallidus. In the superior colliculus specimens, we also analyzed the adjacent periaqueductal gray. We detected dense OXTR binding in the human NBM and VP and moderate to low OXTR binding in the human globus pallidus, superior colliculus, and periaqueductal gray. AVPR1a binding was negligible across all five regions in all specimens. Compared to controls, ASD specimens exhibited significantly higher OXTR binding in the NBM and significantly lower OXTR binding in the VP, an area in the mesolimbic reward pathway. There was no effect of ASD on OXTR binding in the globus pallidus, superior colliculus, or periaqueductal gray. We also found a significant negative correlation between age and OXTR binding in the VP across all specimens. Further analysis revealed a peak in OXTR binding in the VP in early childhood of typically developing individuals, which was absent in ASD. This pattern suggests a possible early life critical period, which is lacking in ASD, where this important reward area becomes maximally sensitive to OXT binding. These results provide unique neurobiological insight into human social development and the social symptoms of ASD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.