Play ball. Researchers have tended social skills of autistic in this computer game launch.
Andari et al . PNAS Advance Online Publication (16 February 2010)
A dose of the "hormone trust" oxytocin can help bring some people with autism out of their shell. Patients with the condition usually have difficulty interacting with others, but when they inhaled oxytocin in a new study, they began to look people in the eye and acknowledge social concepts like fairness in a game computer. Although the results are preliminary, the work could lead to drugs to treat a variety of social problems, including schizophrenia and anxiety, says expert Evdokia Anagnostou, a child neurologist at the Bloorview research Institute in Toronto, Canada.
oxytocin appears to function as a kind of "social glue" for many mammals. mice and monkeys release the hormone when they groom and mate, for example, and humans who received a dose of oxytocin are more likely to offer a total stranger money, even if they get nothing in return. Autistic people have less oxytocin circulating in their blood than those without the disease, so neuroscientist Angela Sirigu of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience in Lyon, France, wondered if the rise of the hormone would make it more socially adept .
Sirigu team asked 13 adults with Asperger's syndrome - a high-level form of autism - to play a computer game to launch. On the "ground" were four boxes, indicating three players and the participant. To throw the ball to another player, the participant touched a given box. The computerized players were sometimes friendly, meaning that they have thrown the ball to other players, and sometimes bullies, which means that they kept the ball to themselves. The volunteers received either a placebo or a nasal spray of oxytocin formulations one day and then exchanged a week later. In this way, the researchers could observe how the same individual performed with and without the boost from the hormone.
Oxytocin has made a difference. Without the boost from the hormone, volunteers tended to also play with the good guy and the bully, indicating their difficulty grasping important social concepts like fairness and empathy. With the hormone, they tend to avoid playing with the bully.
In a second experiment, the researchers asked volunteers to look at a series of faces on a computer screen. Like many with autism, subjects tended to focus on the chin and mouth and quickly shifted their gaze, indicating agitation. But when given oxytocin, they began to look human eyes, a sign of social ease, reports online this week in the team Proceedings of the National Academy science .
Anagnostou agrees that patients with autism who take oxytocin and play the game seems to be learning how to interact with people. "There is in fact some form of social learning that happens," she said. But because this study has examined the effect of oxytocin after a single dose, she adds, it is not known if the hormone boosters will continue working for the long term.
In terms of therapeutic applications, Sirigu said studies have shown that the fight against early autism can sometimes help curb the condition. Thus, administration of a hormone like oxytocin during childhood can be a powerful weapon in the fight against autism, she said.
Anagnostou and her colleagues are currently administering oxytocin to Asperger patients every day for 6 weeks. But even if his study shows similar results, she said, it will take years for researchers and physicians understand the potential side effects and the appropriate dosage levels for the hormone.
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