Cited by 149Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorAutism Spectrum Disorder ResearchHuman-Animal Interaction Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 158 of the 158 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 115 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Integrative Approaches Utilizing Oxytocin to Enhance Prosocial Behavior: From Animal and Human Social Behavior to Autistic Social Dysfunction

Open access
Yamasue, Hidenori, Yee, Jason R., Hurlemann, René, Rilling, James K., Chen, Frances S., Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas, Tost, Heike·2012·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is as high as 1 in 100 individuals and is a heavy burden to society. Thus, identifying causes and treatments is imperative. Here, we briefly review the topics covered in our 2012 Society for Neuroscience Mini-Symposium entitled “Integrative Approaches Using Oxytocin to Enhance Prosocial Behavior: From Animal and Human Social Behavior to ASD's Social Dysfunction.” This work is not meant to be a comprehensive review of oxytocin and prosocial behavior. Instead, we wish to share the newest findings on the effects of oxytocin on social behavior, the brain, and the social dysfunction of ASD at the molecular, genetic, systemic, and behavior levels, in varied subjects ranging from animal models to humans suffering from autism for the purpose of promoting further study for developing the clinical use of oxytocin in treating ASD.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This mini-review integrates animal, human nonclinical, genetic, neuroimaging, and clinical evidence on oxytocin’s role in prosocial behavior and autistic social dysfunction. It argues that oxytocin is a promising but not yet clinically established treatment for ASD social deficits, with mechanisms and long-term safety still unresolved.

Key findings

  • ASD prevalence is reported as at least 1 in 100 people, and there is no established pharmacological treatment for social dysfunction, the core feature of ASD.
  • In prairie voles, systemic oxytocin pretreatment before a flooded-cage stressor increased sedentary social contact after return to the home cage, elevated plasma oxytocin 95 min after injection, and produced functional coupling between the paraventricular nucleus and cardioregulatory brainstem areas; an oxytocin antagonist decoupled this activity.
  • In a double-blind, placebo-controlled fMRI study of 91 men aged 18–22 years (mean 20.2; oxytocin n=27, vasopressin n=27, placebo n=36), intranasal oxytocin increased caudate nucleus response to reciprocated cooperation, positively correlated with plasma oxytocin, enhanced left amygdala activation, decreased amygdala–brainstem functional connectivity, and increased amygdala connectivity with ventral anterior insula and inferior lateral temporal cortex.
  • In ASD clinical studies cited, intravenous oxytocin reduced repetitive behavior in 15 medication-free adults with ASD, intranasal oxytocin improved “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” performance in male youths with ASD, and intranasal oxytocin enhanced trust, preference, and eye-gaze time with a socially cooperative partner; OXTR variants rs53576 and rs2254298 have been linked to socioemotional functioning and ASD susceptibility, though with inconsistencies.

Methods

  • Design: narrative mini-review and summary of the authors’ 2012 Society for Neuroscience Mini-Symposium, explicitly not a comprehensive review of oxytocin and prosocial behavior.
  • Data/sample: synthesizes findings from animal models, healthy human pharmacological challenge studies, molecular genetics, imaging genetics, and clinical ASD studies; no new primary data are collected.
  • Main analysis: qualitative cross-level integration of molecular, genetic, systemic, neural, behavioral, and clinical evidence, ranging from animal models to humans with autism.

Limitations

  • Stated in the paper: little is known about the mechanistic effects of oxytocin on social brain circuits; the neural mechanisms by which oxytocin improves autistic behavior are unknown; further large-scale studies or long-term trials are needed; OXTR associations show inconsistencies, null effects, and heterogeneity; future studies must examine potential social side effects and “contraindications” of oxytocin treatment.
  • Evident from the text: as a mini-review/mini-symposium summary, it is not comprehensive and relies on cited studies rather than new empirical data; several cited clinical findings come from small samples, such as 15 ASD adults and 91 men, limiting generalizability.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.3327-12.2012

Cites

158 of 158 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

56 Not checked yet · 13 Own interpretation · 8 Own result · 2 No basis given · 1 Own method

Verify all 115 references — free account

Show all 52 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 23
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 6
28 of 28
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    There is no established pharmacological treatment for social dysfunction, the core feature of ASD.

    “However, there is no established pharmacological treatment for social dysfunction, the core feature of ASD.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Little is known about the mechanistic effects of OT on social brain circuits, which are at the core of the observed behavioral changes.

    “Specifically, little is known about the mechanistic effects of OT on social brain circuits, which are at the core of the observed behavioral changes.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The neural mechanisms by which OT improves autistic behavior are unknown.

    “mechanisms by which OT improves autistic behavior are also unknown.”
3 of 3

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Show all 158 references

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Metadata

Authors
Yamasue, H., Yee, J. R., Hurlemann, R., Rilling, J. K., Chen, F. S., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., & Tost, H.
Affiliations
  • Japan Science and Technology Agency (JP)
  • RTI International (US)
  • University of Bonn (DE)
  • Emory University (US)
  • University of Freiburg (DE)
  • Heidelberg University (DE)
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2012-10-10
Volume
32
Issue
41
Pages
14109-14117a
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W1973821096
Cited by
149
References
158
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 31
FWCI
34.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Journal of Neuroscience Nursing
Funders
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (22689034, 23659558)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
Keywords
oxytocin, prosocial behavior, autism spectrum disorder, social dysfunction, social behavior, animal models, oxytocin therapy, social brain, autism genetics
MeSH terms
Animals, Autistic Disorder, Humans, Neural Pathways, Oxytocin, Social Behavior, Social Environment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-09, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-09 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review