ArticleScientific reports2021
Randomized clinical trial shows no substantial modulation of empathy-related neural activation by intranasal oxytocin in autism.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medical treatment of autism spectrum disorder in children: Current evidence, controversies, and clinical challenges.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Nanosystems for Intranasal Delivery of Therapeutics in Psychiatric Disorders.Current drug delivery · 2026Review
- The Dynamicity of the Oxytocin Receptor in the Brain May Trigger Sensory Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Research progress on the mechanisms of pain empathy.Ibrain · 2025Review
- Review
- A Historical Review of Brain Drug Delivery.Pharmaceutics · 2022Review
- Assessment of Reward-Related Brain Function After a Single Dose of Oxytocin in Autism: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2022Article
- Article
- Oxytocin for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder in children.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2022Article
- An Update on Psychopharmacological Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Evidence suggests that intranasal application of oxytocin facilitates empathy and modulates its underlying neural processes, which are often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Oxytocin has therefore been considered a promising candidate for the treatment of social difficulties in ASD. However, evidence linking oxytocin treatment to social behavior and brain function in ASD is limited and heterogeneous effects might depend on variations in the oxytocin-receptor gene (OXTR). We examined 25 male ASD patients without intellectual disability in a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled fMRI-protocol, in which a single dose of oxytocin or placebo was applied intranasally. Patients performed three experiments in the MRI examining empathy for other's physical pain, basic emotions, and social pain. All participants were genotyped for the rs53576 single-nucleotide polymorphism of the OXTR. Oxytocin increased bilateral amygdala responsiveness during the physical pain task for both painful and neutral stimuli. Other than that, there were no effects of oxytocin treatment. OXTR genotype did not significantly interact with oxytocin treatment. Our results contribute to the growing body of empirical literature suggesting heterogenous effects of oxytocin administration in ASD. To draw clinically relevant conclusions regarding the usefulness of oxytocin treatment, however, empirical studies need to consider methods of delivery, dose, and moderating individual factors more carefully in larger samples.
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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.