Belgian Pilot: Four Weeks of Nasal Oxytocin Changed White-Matter Tracts in Autistic Men, and Some Changes Tracked Social Gains
The placebo-controlled pilot in 27 young adult men with autism, published in Translational Psychiatry by Hasselt University and KU Leuven researchers, tested 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin daily for four weeks, with brain diffusion imaging at baseline, after treatment, and four weeks and one year later. Oxytocin was linked to higher fractional anisotropy in the uncinate fasciculus on both sides and mixed changes in two other tracts, mostly increases on the right and decreases on the left; changes in some tracts correlated with better social responsiveness and less avoidant attachment. The authors call the findings exploratory and hypothesis-generating.