Intranasal Oxytocin and Learning in Autism | NCT01417026

NCT01417026

Protocol Section

Identification Module

Results Section

Participant Flow Module

Annotation Section

No data available

No data is available for this block.

Document Section

No data available

No data is available for this block.

Derived Section

Miscellaneous Info Module

Status Module

Oversight Module

Description Module

Design Module

Interventional Study Design

Biospecimen

No data available

No data is available for this block.

Arms/Interventions Module

Arm Groups

Label	Type	Description	Intervention Names
Intranasal Oxytocin	Active Comparator	Intranasal oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon) Pharmacological class: The pharmacologic and clinical properties of Syntocinon are identical with the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin, which is released from the posterior pituitary. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) per day for 5 days. One dose of 24 IU equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Oxytocin will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland.	Drug: Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon)
Intranasal Placebo	Placebo Comparator	Intranasal placebo The placebo is identical to the oxytocin formulation with the exception of the active compound. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal placebo per day for 5 days. One dose equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Placebo will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland.	Drug: Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon)

Interventions

Name	Type	Description	Arm Group Labels	Other Names
Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon)	Drug	This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.

Outcomes Module

Primary Outcomes

Measure	Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline to Post-testing (After Max. 12 Days) on the Part/Whole Identity Test (LFI Skills Battery)	This test measures the extent to which the participant employed a featural or holistic face recognition strategy. A sample face is presented, followed by a test face composed of either two whole faces or two face parts.	Baseline and Post-testing (after max. 12 days)
Change From Baseline to Post-testing (After Max. 12 Days) on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Child Version)	This is a test of emotion recognition. This test asks children to pick the best word out of four options to describe the mental state of a set of eyes. The test includes 28 photographs of eyes with both affective (e.g., upset) and cognitive (e.g., thoughtful) mental state words as choices.	Baseline and Post-testing (after max. 12 days)

Secondary Outcomes

Measure	Description	Time Frame
Changes From Baseline to Post-testing (After Max. 12 Days) on the "Happy Faces" Measure of Social Attention	The "Happy Faces" task requires that participants look at a series of faces of men and women. Faces are presented on the screen one by one and children are asked just to look at the faces. Eye movements are measured with a Tobii x120 tabletop eye-tracker to evaluate participants' looking patterns towards the eyes versus the mouth region.

Eligibility Module

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants aged 12-17 years, Mental age ≥ 10
Gender: males
Diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder
Consent: parent/guardian permission and child assent.
Ability to complete tasks: adequate vision, motor control of a keyboard and mouse, and fluency in English (and English as a first language).
Study participant needs to be clinically stable, in the opinion of the study clinicians. Stability will be assessed by the clinicians based on information from and conversations with the parent, if necessary. The parent needs to commit verbally to not making any changes to his or her child's current treatments for the duration of this study.

Exclusion Criteria:

History of traumatic brain injury, epilepsy/seizure disorder (except febrile seizures), or other significant medical, genetic, or neurological abnormality affecting growth, development, or motor or higher cortical functioning. Sensory impairments (e.g., significant vision/hearing loss).
Patients with one or more of the following: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), hemophilia (bleeding problems, recent nose and brain injuries), abnormal blood pressure (hypotension or hypertension), drug abuse, immunity disorder, or severe depression.
Sensory impairments (e.g., significant vision/hearing loss).
Gestational age below 35 weeks and/or perinatal injury.
Profound mental retardation (e.g., Intelligence quotient (IQ) < 45) or sensory-motor difficulties that would preclude valid use of diagnostic instruments.
Lack of impairment in face recognition as determined by average or above average performance on the Benton Face Recognition Task.
Female participants.
Patients who are sensitive to Syntocinon or any components of its formulation.
Fever at the time of the baseline visit, defined as temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius or 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Judgment by the study physician or the PI that the patient is not suitable for the study due to unforeseeable safety issues.

Name	Affiliation	Role
Robert T. Schultz, PhD	Center for Autism Research, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia	Principal Investigator

Facility	Status	City	State	ZIP	Country	Contacts
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia		Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	19104	United States

Arm/Group Information

ID	Title	Description
FG000	Intranasal Oxytocin	Intranasal oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon) Pharmacological class: The pharmacologic and clinical properties of Syntocinon are identical with the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin, which is released from the posterior pituitary. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) per day for 5 days. One dose of 24 IU equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Oxytocin will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland. Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon): This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.
FG001	Intranasal Placebo	Intranasal placebo The placebo is identical to the oxytocin formulation with the exception of the active compound. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal placebo per day for 5 days. One dose equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Placebo will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland. Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon): This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.

Baseline Characteristics Module

Arm/Group Information

ID	Title	Description
BG000	Intranasal Oxytocin	Intranasal oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon) Pharmacological class: The pharmacologic and clinical properties of Syntocinon are identical with the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin, which is released from the posterior pituitary. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) per day for 5 days. One dose of 24 IU equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Oxytocin will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland. Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon): This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.

Units	Counts
Participants	BG000

Baseline Measures

Title	Description	Population Description	Parameter Type	Dispersion Type	Unit of Measure	Calculate Percentage	Denominator Units Selected	Denominators	Classes
Age, Categorical			Count of Participants

Outcome Measures Module

Outcome Measures

Type

Title

Description

Population Description

Reporting Status

Anticipated Posting Date

Parameter Type

Dispersion Type

Unit of Measure

Calculate Percentage

Time Frame

Units Analyzed

Denominator Units Selected

Arm/Group Information

Denominators

Classes

Analyses

Primary

Change From Baseline to Post-testing (After Max. 12 Days) on the Part/Whole Identity Test (LFI Skills Battery)

This test measures the extent to which the participant employed a featural or holistic face recognition strategy. A sample face is presented, followed by a test face composed of either two whole faces or two face parts.

Posted

Mean

Standard Deviation

change in percent correct

Baseline and Post-testing (after max. 12 days)

ID	Title	Description
OG000	Intranasal Oxytocin	Intranasal oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon) Pharmacological class: The pharmacologic and clinical properties of Syntocinon are identical with the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin, which is released from the posterior pituitary. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) per day for 5 days. One dose of 24 IU equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Oxytocin will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland. Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon): This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.

Adverse Events Module

Arm/Groups

ID	Title	Description	Deaths (Affected)	Deaths (At Risk)	Serious Events (Affected)	Serious Events (At Risk)	Other Events (Affected)	Other Events (At Risk)
EG000	Intranasal Oxytocin	Intranasal oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon) Pharmacological class: The pharmacologic and clinical properties of Syntocinon are identical with the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin, which is released from the posterior pituitary. Route of administration: Intranasal Planned exposure: Each participant will receive one dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) per day for 5 days. One dose of 24 IU equals 6 spray puffs (3 puffs in each nostril). Oxytocin will be imported from Victoria Pharmacy Zurich- Switzerland. Intranasal Oxytocin (Trade name: Syntocinon): This is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in children and adolescents with ASD. Subjects will be randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo for a 5 day period with concomitant game play of computer games, which are designed to enhance face perception skills. Measures of social function and cognition will be administered before and after the intervention period.

ID	Term
D002659	Child Development Disorders, Pervasive
D065886	Neurodevelopmental Disorders
D001523	Mental Disorders

ID	Term
D010909	Pituitary Hormones, Posterior
D010907	Pituitary Hormones
D036361	Peptide Hormones
D006728	Hormones