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Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 18 · 2015

7 results

Clinical and neural effects of six-week administration of oxytocin on core symptoms of autism.

Watanabe T, Kuroda M, Kuwabara H, Aoki Y, Iwashiro N, Tatsunobu N, Takao H, Nippashi Y, Kawakubo Y, Kunimatsu A, Kasai K, Yamasue H

Brain : a journal of neurology3 Sept 2015Cited by 189 (Europe PMC)

PMID26336909 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1093/brain/awv249 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-26336909
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Summary

The text of this summary is not shown here, because the article license does not allow reuse. Read it at the source (opens in a new tab)

Text rights: Publisher copyright. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study7

7 results from studies that gave the peptide. 7 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, 6-week intranasal oxytocin significantly reduced core symptoms of social reciprocity on the ADOS compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of nasal oxytocin lowered social reciprocity symptom scores compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseADOS social reciprocity score
    Study

    n = 18

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Analysis
    Exploratory
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Data obtained from 18 participants who completed the trial showed that 6-week intranasal administration of oxytocin significantly reduced autism core symptoms specific to social reciprocity, which was clinically evaluated by Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (P = 0.034, PFDR < 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.78).
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, oxytocin enhanced resting-state functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate and dorso-medial prefrontal cortex, accompanying the clinical improvement.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, oxytocin increased brain connectivity between two regions, alongside better clinical scores.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseResting-state connectivity between anterior cingulate and dorso-medial prefrontal cortex
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Critically, the improvement of this clinical score was accompanied by oxytocin-induced enhancement of task-independent resting-state functional connectivity between anterior cingulate cortex and dorso-medial prefrontal cortex (rho = -0.60, P = 0.011), which was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  3. 03HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, continual oxytocin significantly mitigated the impaired judgement tendency in a social-judgement task.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of oxytocin lessened an impaired social-judgement pattern compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    Direction not reportedJudgement tendency in social-judgement task
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    we confirmed that the current continual administration also significantly mitigated behavioural and neural responses during the task, both of which were originally impaired in autistic individuals
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    judgement tendency: P = 0.019, d = 0.62
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  4. 04HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, continual oxytocin significantly mitigated the impaired eye-gaze effect in a social-judgement task.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of oxytocin lessened an impaired eye-gaze response compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    Direction not reportedEye-gaze effect in social-judgement task
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    we confirmed that the current continual administration also significantly mitigated behavioural and neural responses during the task, both of which were originally impaired in autistic individuals
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    eye-gaze effect: P = 0.03, d = 0.56
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  5. 05HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, continual oxytocin significantly mitigated the impaired anterior cingulate activity during a social-judgement task.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of oxytocin lessened an impaired brain response in one region compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    Direction not reportedAnterior cingulate activity in social-judgement task
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    we confirmed that the current continual administration also significantly mitigated behavioural and neural responses during the task, both of which were originally impaired in autistic individuals
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    anterior cingulate activity: P = 0.00069, d = 0.97
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  6. 06HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, continual oxytocin significantly mitigated the impaired dorso-medial prefrontal activity during a social-judgement task.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of oxytocin lessened an impaired brain response in another region compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    Direction not reportedDorso-medial prefrontal activity in social-judgement task
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    we confirmed that the current continual administration also significantly mitigated behavioural and neural responses during the task, both of which were originally impaired in autistic individuals
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    dorso-medial prefrontal activity: P = 0.0014, d = 0.92
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.
  7. 07HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In adult men with autism spectrum disorder, effect sizes of 6-week oxytocin were not larger than those of the previous single-dose intervention.

    In plain wordsIn adult men with autism, six weeks of oxytocin did not give larger effects than one earlier single dose.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeEffect size of 6-week versus single-dose oxytocin
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Previous single-dose oxytocin trial
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Furthermore, despite its longer administration, these effect sizes of the 6-week intervention were not larger than those seen in our previous single-dose intervention.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Here, to address this issue, we performed an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial including 20 high-functional adult males with autism spectrum disorder.

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 01:30 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:49 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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