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Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 67 · 2024

2 results

Chronic oxytocin improves neural decoupling at rest in children with autism: an exploratory RCT.

Alaerts K, Moerkerke M, Daniels N, Zhang Q, Grazia R, Steyaert J, Prinsen J, Boets B

Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines23 Feb 2024Cited by 9 (Europe PMC)

PMID38400592 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1111/jcpp.13966 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-38400592
Publisher pagePubMedAsk about this study
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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 study2

2 results from studies that gave the peptide. 2 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In children with autism, 4 weeks of intranasal oxytocin increased the formation of nonharmonic cross-frequency configurations at rest.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, oxytocin for 4 weeks increased a resting brain pattern linked to less noisy neural coupling.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseNonharmonic alpha-theta cross-frequency decoupling
    Study

    n = 67

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    12 IU twice-daily · intranasal · 4 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Notably, after oxytocin administration, the transient formation of nonharmonic cross-frequency configurations was increased in the cohort of autistic children (p < .001), indicating a beneficial effect of oxytocin on reducing spurious cross-frequency-interactions.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Within this exploratory, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we assessed whether the transient occurrence of nonharmonic and harmonic relationships between peak-frequencies in the alpha (8-14 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) bands is impacted by intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuromodulator implic…
    Summary · context
    To do so, resting-state electroencephalography was acquired before and after 4 weeks of oxytocin administration (12 IU twice-daily) in children with autism spectrum disorder (8-12 years, n = 33 oxytocin; n = 34 placebo).
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In children with autism, oxytocin came with epigenetic changes of the oxytocin receptor gene, which the authors link to changes in endogenous oxytocinergic signaling.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, oxytocin came with changes in the oxytocin receptor gene's epigenetic marks.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    Direction not reportedOxytocin receptor gene epigenetic change
    Study

    n = 67

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    12 IU twice-daily · intranasal · 4 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Furthermore, parallel epigenetics changes of the oxytocin receptor gene indicated that the neural effects were likely mediated by changes in endogenous oxytocinergic signaling (p = .006).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Within this exploratory, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we assessed whether the transient occurrence of nonharmonic and harmonic relationships between peak-frequencies in the alpha (8-14 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) bands is impacted by intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuromodulator implic…
    Summary · context
    To do so, resting-state electroencephalography was acquired before and after 4 weeks of oxytocin administration (12 IU twice-daily) in children with autism spectrum disorder (8-12 years, n = 33 oxytocin; n = 34 placebo).

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, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:47 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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