Hormone-infused Nasal Spray Found to Help People with Autism
Managing Editor's Note: We're pleased to see more research and relief coming for people with autism and Asperger's because of this positive media report on oxytocin, despite the fact that the study only included 13 subjects, a low enough number to draw ridicule from the autism untreatables in other instances.
A point to ponder as we learn more, oxytocin is produced in the pituitary gland and this gland is affected by mercury exposure. From Britannica oxytocin is a ...hormone used clinically to stimulate contractions of the uterus during labour, to control bleeding following delivery, and to stimulate the secretion of breast milk. Oxytocin was first synthesized (along with the related vasopressin, or antidiuretic hormone [ADH]) by American biochemist Vincent du Vigneaud in 1953, and he received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1955 for this work. Synthetic oxytocin has since become widely used in obstetric practice. Natural oxytocin is secreted by the posterior pituitary gland, which holds and secretes oxytocin produced by the hypothalamus.
In August of 2009, US News ran a story about a study from UCLA:The UCLA study found evidence linking inorganic mercury in the blood to tissues known to be targets for the toxin, such as the liver, the immune system and the pituitary gland.
From The Washington Post.
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A nasal spray containing a hormone that is known to make women more maternal and men less shy apparently can help those with autism make eye contact and interact better with others, according to a provocative study released Monday.
The study, involving 13 adults with either a high-functioning form of autism or Asperger syndrome, a mild form of the disorder, found that when the subjects inhaled the hormone oxytocin, they scored significantly better on a test that involved recognizing faces and performed much better in a game that involved tossing a ball with others.
"This is the first study that looked at whether oxytocin has an effect on social behavior, which is a major deficit in autism," said Angela Sirigu, who directs the National Center for Scientific Research in France and led the study, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It looks like it could be very helpful."
Researchers who were not involved in the study praised the work, saying the findings were promising and could lead to the first effective treatment for the central problems affecting people with autism.
"I think it's going to be a very exciting finding for a lot of people," said Alex Martin, chief of cognitive neuropsychology at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Because oxytocin does not last long in the body and produces its effects for a relatively brief period, some experts said the findings were more likely to encourage drug companies to develop alternative substances that had the same benefits.
"This paper suggests that's worth doing," said Thomas R. Insel, director of the institute. "It adds another brick in the wall that suggests there may be an opportunity to develop treatment for one of the core symptoms of autism. That's been the brass ring."
But Sirigu was among those who said the finding should encourage more research on the potential benefits of oxytocin itself, especially for children. Administering the hormone soon after a child's autism is diagnosed might help him or her develop more normally, she said.
"It's possible it can become a cure, if it's given early when the problems are detected in the little kids," Sirigu said. "We can change the way these patients interact with people from childhood."
Because previous research has indicated that some people with autism might have abnormally low levels of oxytocin, conducting tests to identify those people and administering them the hormone might help as well, said Karen Parker, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine.
"If you can find someone who appears to have deficits in oxytocin biology, giving them what you might argue would be replacement oxytocin may be helpful," Parker said.
Autism is a baffling disorder that can cause a variety of symptoms, including speech and learning problems and profound, disabling difficulties understanding emotions and social cues when interacting with people. The number of children found to have autism has been increasing for reasons that remain mysterious.
Oxytocin is produced naturally in the bodies of humans and animals. It plays a key role in social interaction, promoting maternal behavior and monogamy in animals. The hormone also heightens social sensitivity, social awareness, generosity and trust in people.
Previous U.S. studies found that people with autism who received the hormone intravenously were less likely to engage in repetitive behavior that is another hallmark of autism and were more likely to be able to identify emotions in voices. Another study being published in the journal Biological Psychiatry found that 16 autistic males in Australia ages 12 to 19 who received the hormone through a nasal spray were better able to recognize other people's facial expressions.
"All the data seem to suggest that manipulating the oxytocin system has a powerful effect on the core symptoms of autism," said Eric Hollander, director of the compulsive, impulsive and autism spectrum disorders program at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
While cautioning that more research is needed on children and additional patients to make sure oxytocin is safe and effective, advocates for families with children with autism welcomed the findings. Oxytocin has been in use for several years as an "alternative" therapy for autism.
"Many families are using it with success and reporting improvement," said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association. "Getting double-blind clinical studies like this one published helps to bring credibility to parental reports."
"We need to be mindful of the fact that the majority of human studies of oxytocin have been conducted using adults, including this study, and only one paper has included individuals between the ages of 12 and 18. We have to be careful about the safety and efficacy of oxytocin on pediatric populations," said Clara Lajonchere, vice president of clinical programs for Autism Speaks.
You are right Cherry;
Autism is the one disease that the vaccines have been caught red handed (and still no justice or any one really at a lathered bother)-- If the public every figures out how many autoimmune diseases are and the cause is vaccines --- oh my!
This may be the reason for the attitude about inflammatory systemic disease.
Mean while; No next generation in this house hold.
Posted by: Benedetta | February 18, 2010 at 04:48 PM
To Benedetta, There are so many medical disorders which we can begin to understand when we finally admit to the consequences. of mercury and other metals inside the human body. If the medical world could just keep an open and scientific mind, they could take that quantum leap forward. Because many of these mercury disorders are not often realized to be related to autism, they dont often come up as topics on AOA.
I am interested in problems of the pituitary gland because we have begun to see unusually small children in my nursery school in New Delhi. There is a medical protocol in India whereby pregnant women are given one or two doses of tetanus toxoid ( 50 mcg ethylmercury in each adult dose) Now some doctors have decided to make that 3 doses and I am told that it can even be 4. In my school I have seen two children who were unusually small, with small heads . They were born the size of premature infants and have continued to remain small. I have seen another child with normal head size , but unusually short stature. Now, at age 4 he is being given growth hormone. All of these kids shared the feature that the mothers reported 3 doses of tetanus toxoid in pregnancy. One mother says that her pediatric endocrinologist reports seeing more very small children among the children of army personnel. That makes sense- The Indian military gives their kids free vaccines and they use only those manufactured by Serum Institute of India, with the highest level of mercury. It is not just the autistic kids who suffer because medical science has abandoned truth in science
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | February 18, 2010 at 02:08 PM
Taximom, I would love to believe that you are right, and it could be a huge link, but in the case of my children, it's not. Both were exclusively breastfed. One (Asperger's) weaned when she was 21 months old. The second (high functioning) weaned at 30 months. Yes, 2.5 years old. Now he was eating some table foods by that point but definitely not formula.
It does bring to mind though that maybe there could be an oxytocin link. His symptoms went from barely noticeable, and he ate everything he was offered, to drastic changes and a rigid self-imposed diet within weeks of weaning. The changes were more rapid and noticeable than after any vaccine up to that point in his life.
Posted by: Dana | February 18, 2010 at 03:21 AM
Will any of these mainstream conventional status quo doctors and researchers ever come to any logical conclusions? The vaccines contain heavy metals that far exceed known and proven safety standards. The heavy metals end up in the brain. The pituitary gland is in the brain. The pituitary gland has been fried along with the rest of the brain. Remove the heavy metals from the brain and support the brain with nutrients to regenerate the damaged brain cells. (Yes brain cells are continually regenerating, even after age 5, although at a slower pace)
Therapeutic grade essential oils can have profound effects on the brain, increase oxygenation, detoxification, and regeneration of brain cells. And Standard Process has a patented nutritonal product for the Pituitary called "Pituitrophin PMG". (PMG = Protomorphogen Extract) Many chiropractors and nutritionists are knowledgable regarding these unique Standard Process products.
Why not proceed in a logical path of removing the heavy metals and reversing the damage to the brain and pituitary gland so that this gland can then produce it's own oxytosin?
Wait a minute, I just realized there is no money is this logical approach for Big Pharma and the medical system. Therefore they will only pursue the avenue of pharmaceuticals for profit...and that's alot of profit if you have to snort this stuff up your nose every 20 minutes. Sounds like something your local cocaine dealer would advise. Lots of money in the drug dealer's pocket.
Posted by: Autism Grandma | February 17, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Interesting, very interesting.
The article doesn't bother to mention that nursing mothers produce oxytocin when breast-feeding--and babies who are exclusively breastfed are much less likely to develop autism.
Sometimes I wonder if the pharmaceutical companies are in league with the formula companies--first get the mother to BUY formula to feed her baby because the doctors tell her she doesn't have enough milk (never mind that they give her a feeding schedule based on a formula-fed needs, which is feeding about half as often as a breast/fed baby), give the baby chemical-laden vaccines (because the baby didn't get maternal immunoglobulins because he wasn't breastfed, of course)...
Posted by: Taximom5 | February 17, 2010 at 09:24 PM
The timing on this research is strange. They have been studying oxytocin for years and made the autism connection some time ago. Dr. Insel's comment here does seem to focus on the treatments being "the brass ring" rather than prevention, which is all good and nice but one might wonder if the 'money to be made off of autism' is the brass ring and everything else is stagnant, like vaccines being a needed core research area, and more focus on mercury/thimerosal especially concerning oxytocin in this particular area:
a bit of historical timeline on oxytocin:
Biochemistry. 1974 May 21;13(11):2347-53.
The role of the internal cross-link in oxytocin. Preparation of mercury mercaptide oxytocin derivatives.
1991 Effects of Oxytocin, Heavy Metals, and Inhibitors
of H+-Adenosine Triphosphatase
http://jgp.rupress.org/cgi/reprint/97/4/749.pdf
Biol Psychiatry. 1998 Feb 15;43(4):270-7.
Plasma oxytocin levels in autistic children.
Modahl C, Green L, Fein D, Morris M, Waterhouse L, Feinstein C, Levin H.
Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts, USA.
BACKGROUND: Social impairments are central to the syndrome of autism. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in the regulation of social behavior in animals but has not yet been examined in autistic subjects. METHODS: To determine whether autistic children have abnormalities in OT, midday plasma samples from 29 autistic and 30 age-matched normal children, all prepubertal, were analyzed by radioimmunoassay for levels of OT. RESULTS: Despite individual variability and overlapping group distributions, the autistic group had significantly lower plasma OT levels than the normal group. OT increased with age in the normal but not the autistic children. Elevated OT was associated with higher scores on social and developmental measures for the normal children, but was associated with lower scores for the autistic children. These relationships were strongest in a subset of autistic children identified as aloof. CONCLUSIONS: Although making inferences to central OT functioning from peripheral measurement is difficult, the data suggest that OT abnormalities may exist in autism, and that more direct investigation of central nervous system OT function is warranted.
Neuropsychopharmacology (2003) 28, 193–198. doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300021
Oxytocin Infusion Reduces Repetitive Behaviors in Adults with Autistic and Asperger's Disorders
Eric Hollander1, Sherie Novotny1, Margaret Hanratty1, Rona Yaffe1, Concetta M DeCaria1, Bonnie R Aronowitz1 and Serge Mosovich1
and again in 2007
'Love hormone' may emerge as a treatment for autism
May 4, 2007 ... "Those who received oxytocin seemed to do much better," said Evdokia Anagnostou, an autism researcher at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New ...
www.seattlepi.com/health/314299_autism04.html - Cached - Similar
Interestingly, Insel was doing some research into oxytocin back in 1992-
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 July 1; 89(13): 5981–5985.
Oxytocin receptor distribution reflects social organization in monogamous and polygamous voles.
T R Insel and L E Shapiro
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | February 17, 2010 at 09:14 PM
After I read this, I checked out the package insert for oxytocin. Interesting read. Why are they studying something that only lasts for 20 minutes. Do they expect aspies to shoot this up their nose every 20 minutes throughout the day? Is this really the best they can do?
Posted by: Maggie | February 17, 2010 at 02:54 PM
I'd say the key paragraph is this one:
"This paper suggests that's worth doing," said Thomas R. Insel, director of the institute. "It adds another brick in the wall that suggests there may be an opportunity to develop treatment for one of the core symptoms of autism. That's been the brass ring."
So, for Insel, the brass ring is NOT finding the actual CAUSE of autism, so that it might be PREVENTED, but rather it's the pharma companies having an "opportunity" to "develop treatment" for "ONE" of the "core symptoms".
Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that this study is seeing the light of day and I hope it ultimately helps children, forces insurers to pay for treatment, and leads to a reclassification of autism as a medical illness that is TREATABLE and REVERSIBLE. But I can't help feeling like the ONLY reason it is seeing the light of day and getting media play is because it makes pharma happy.
Posted by: Garbo | February 17, 2010 at 01:18 PM
It's interesting that there is a connection b/t lack of oxytocin and mercury exposure. My son who has an ASD but is now recovered following biomedical interventions was born nine days late following an induction. When pregnant with my daughter I was scared that I would need another induction b/c I wanted to change as many choices as possible to try to preserve her health. By OBGYN threw out that there is no connection b/t autism and oxytocin (thanks doc)but some correlation b/t post-due date babies and delays so perhaps it's something about staying in utero longer. His point wasn't that overcooked babies are more likely to develop autism but rather that it is impossible to understand any of these correlations. Okay, I don't really agree with him but that info makes sense to me in connection with this treatment. Perhaps my mercury exposures suppressed my ability to naturally start labor and at the same time damaged my son. Interesting stuff. As usual, thanks AOA.
Posted by: Gail C. | February 17, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Hmm. The stuff is called Liquid Trust.
Honestly, given what I've seen in my country and in the quality of the character of my fellow Americans, recently, I'm not at all convinced that those who are lacking somewhat in trust are in any way at a disadvantage.
Posted by: Robin | February 17, 2010 at 10:04 AM
At last some one has said something that I have thought! The pituitary can be involved.
The pituitary gland another part of the body that is affected by this inflammatory systemic disease.
My daughter had Kawasaki's as a child, when she started her period she would not stop - one constant flow.
The doctor told her that the pituitary gland located in the middle of her brain had not matured yet. 15 years later after changing to all kinds of different pills she finally has it some what under control.
It was right after she started her cycle her entire personality really took a turn for the worse too.
This is going to sound insane or weird but when she five years old right after her last DPT shot and she passed out - I had the most vivid dream that she would never have any children. I woke up crying about that - I woke up so upset. I never forgot that dream, I know it means nothing except to me on some sort of spiritual level or subconcious level. It has bothered me for years and now I believe it is going to come true.
Posted by: Benedetta | February 17, 2010 at 08:54 AM