Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
6228145 Biological Psychiatry 2011 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

BackgroundSubjects with autism suffer from impairments of social interaction, deviations in language usage, as well as restricted and stereotyped patterns of behavior. These characteristics are found irrespective of age, IQ, and gender of affected subjects. However, brain changes due to age, IQ, and gender might pose potential confounds in autism neuroimaging analyses.MethodsTo investigate gray matter differences in autism that are not related to these potential confounds, we performed a voxel-based morphometry analysis in 52 affected children and adolescents and 52 matched control subjects.ResultsWe observed diminished gray matter in a region of the hypothalamus, which synthesizes the behaviorally relevant hormones oxytocin and arginine vasopressin.ConclusionsThis finding provides support for further investigations of the theory of abnormal functioning of this hormonal system in autism and potentially for experimental therapeutic approaches with oxytocin and related neuropeptides.

Related Topics
Life Sciences Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry
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