ArticleTranslational psychiatry2023
Endogenous oxytocin levels in children with autism: Associations with cortisol levels and oxytocin receptor gene methylation.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2023. 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
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of the oxytocinergic system in oral microbiome composition in children with autism: evidence from a randomized controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Chronic oxytocin administration stimulates the oxytocinergic system in children with autism.Nature communications · 2024Trial
- The oxytocinergic system in functional neurological disorder: Preliminary testing of associations with interoception and childhood trauma.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Influence of the HPA Axis on Anxiety-Related Processes: An RDoC Overview Considering Their Neural Correlates.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Salivary Oxytocin Levels in Children With and Without Autism: Group Similarities and Subgroup Variability.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Emerging Epigenetic Therapeutics and Diagnostics for Autism Spectrum Disorder.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Oxytocin Improves Autistic Behaviors by Positively Shifting GABA Reversal Potential via NKCC1 in Early-Postnatal-Stage.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Oxytocin's social and stress-regulatory effects in children with autism and intellectual disability: a protocol for a randomized placebo-controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Changes in hair cortisol and oxytocin independently associate with positive and negative psychological states in female soccer players.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- DNA Methylation in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Biomarker or Pharmacological Target?Brain sciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Alterations in the brain's oxytocinergic system have been suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but insights from pediatric populations are sparse. Here, salivary oxytocin was examined in the morning (AM) and afternoon (PM) in school-aged children with (n = 80) and without (n = 40) ASD (boys/girls 4/1), and also characterizations of DNA methylation (DNAm) of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) were obtained. Further, cortisol levels were assessed to examine links between the oxytocinergic system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis signaling. Children with ASD displayed altered (diminished) oxytocin levels in the morning, but not in the afternoon, after a mildly stress-inducing social interaction session. Notably, in the control group, higher oxytocin levels at AM were associated with lower stress-induced cortisol at PM, likely reflective of a protective stress-regulatory mechanism for buffering HPA stress activity. In children with ASD, on the other hand, a significant rise in oxytocin levels from the morning to the afternoon was associated with a higher stress-induced cortisol release in the afternoon, likely reflective of a more reactive stress regulatory release of oxytocin for reactively coping with heightened HPA activity. Regarding epigenetic modifications, no overall pattern of OXTR hypo- or hypermethylation was evident in ASD. In control children, a notable association between OXTR methylation and levels of cortisol at PM was evident, likely indicative of a compensatory downregulation of OXTR methylation (higher oxytocin receptor expression) in children with heightened HPA axis activity. Together, these observations bear important insights into altered oxytocinergic signaling in ASD, which may aid in establishing relevant biomarkers for diagnostic and/or treatment evaluation purposes targeting the oxytocinergic system in ASD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.