1. Effect of propranolol on functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder--a pilot study.
- Author
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Narayanan A, White CA, Saklayen S, Scaduto MJ, Carpenter AL, Abduljalil A, Schmalbrock P, and Beversdorf DQ
- Subjects
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Child, Decision Making drug effects, Decision Making physiology, Female, Humans, Language Tests, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nadolol pharmacology, Neural Pathways drug effects, Neural Pathways physiopathology, Neuropsychological Tests, Phonetics, Pilot Projects, Young Adult, Adrenergic beta-Antagonists pharmacology, Brain drug effects, Brain physiopathology, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive drug therapy, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive physiopathology, Propranolol pharmacology
- Abstract
A decrease in interaction between brain regions is observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is believed to be related to restricted neural network access in ASD. Propranolol, a beta-adrenergic antagonist, has revealed benefit during performance of tasks involving flexibility of access to networks, a benefit also seen in ASD. Our goal was to determine the effect of propranolol on functional connectivity in ASD during a verbal decision making task as compared to nadolol, thereby accounting for the potential spurious fMRI effects due to peripheral hemodynamic effects of propranolol. Ten ASD subjects underwent fMRI scans after administration of placebo, propranolol or nadolol, while performing a phonological decision making task. Comparison of functional connectivity between pre-defined ROI-pairs revealed a significant increase with propranolol compared to nadolol, suggesting a potential imaging marker for the cognitive effects of propranolol in ASD.
- Published
- 2010
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