Oxytocin-induced increase in N,N-dimethylglycine and time course of changes in oxytocin efficacy for autism social core symptoms

Abstract

Abstract Background Oxytocin is expected as a novel therapeutic agent for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) core symptoms. However, previous results on the efficacy of repeated administrations of oxytocin are controversial. Recently, we reported time-course changes in the efficacy of the neuropeptide underlying the controversial effects of repeated administration; however, the underlying mechanisms remained unknown. Methods The current study explored metabolites representing the molecular mechanisms of oxytocin’s efficacy using high-throughput metabolomics analysis on plasma collected before and after 6-week repeated intranasal administration of oxytocin (48 IU/day) or placebo in adult males with ASD (N = 106) who participated in a multi-center, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized controlled trial. Results Among the 35 metabolites measured, a significant increase in N,N-dimethylglycine was detected in the subjects administered oxytocin compared with those given placebo at a medium effect size (false discovery rate (FDR) corrected P = 0.043, d = 0.74, N = 83). Furthermore, subgroup analyses of the participants displaying a prominent time-course change in oxytocin efficacy revealed a significant effect of oxytocin on N,N-dimethylglycine levels with a large effect size (PFDR = 0.004, d = 1.13, N = 60). The increase in N,N-dimethylglycine was significantly correlated with oxytocin-induced clinical changes, assessed as changes in quantifiable characteristics of autistic facial expression, including both of improvements between baseline and 2 weeks (PFDR = 0.006, r = − 0.485, N = 43) and deteriorations between 2 and 4 weeks (PFDR = 0.032, r = 0.415, N = 37). Limitations The metabolites changes caused by oxytocin administration were quantified using peripheral blood and therefore may not directly reflect central nervous system changes. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate an association of N,N-dimethylglycine upregulation with the time-course change in the efficacy of oxytocin on autistic social deficits. Furthermore, the current findings support the involvement of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and neural plasticity to the time-course change in oxytocin’s efficacy. Trial registration: A multi-center, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, double-blind, confirmatory trial of intranasal oxytocin in participants with autism spectrum disorders (the date registered: 30 October 2014; UMIN Clinical Trials Registry: https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000017703) (UMIN000015264).