A complicated picture of oxytocin action in the central nervous system revealed.

摘要

It has been difficult not to notice the massive growth of public awareness and research funding that has steadily increased around autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over the past 10 years. With recent epidemiology studies revealing dramatic rises in prevalence rates that now rival other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, the impact on public health systems and realization of unmet medical needs in ASD has created a growing expectation for improved diagnosis and treatments. Historically considered a backwater of psychiatric drug development, ASD has now captured interest from the pharmaceutical industry (1), which sees significant opportunity in the tractability of a rapidly emerging science around ASD. Further fueling this interest is an emergent recognition of overlapping genetic risk and neurobiology shared with other psychiatric and neurological disorders and the opportunity to leverage historic research investments from these areas into ASD.