Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, B10-004, 339 Windermere Rd, London, ON, Canada N6A 5A5.
Brain. 2011 Sep;134(Pt 9):2493-501. doi: 10.1093/brain/awr171. Epub 2011 Aug 22.
Patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia demonstrate abnormalities in behaviour and social cognition, including deficits in emotion recognition. Recent studies suggest that the neuropeptide oxytocin is an important mediator of social behaviour, enhancing prosocial behaviours and some aspects of emotion recognition across species. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin on neuropsychiatric behaviours and emotion processing in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized cross-over design, 20 patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia received one dose of 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin or placebo and then completed emotion recognition tasks known to be affected by frontotemporal dementia and by oxytocin. Caregivers completed validated behavioural ratings at 8 h and 1 week following drug administrations. A significant improvement in scores on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory was observed on the evening of oxytocin administration compared with placebo and compared with baseline ratings. Oxytocin was also associated with reduced recognition of angry facial expressions by patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Together these findings suggest that oxytocin is a potentially promising, novel symptomatic treatment candidate for patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and that further study of this neuropeptide in frontotemporal dementia is warranted.
行为变异型额颞叶痴呆患者表现出行为和社会认知异常，包括情绪识别缺陷。最近的研究表明，神经肽催产素是社会行为的重要调节剂，可增强跨物种的亲社会行为和某些情绪识别方面。本研究旨在评估单次鼻内给予催产素对行为变异型额颞叶痴呆患者神经精神行为和情绪处理的影响。采用双盲、安慰剂对照、随机交叉设计，20 例行为变异型额颞叶痴呆患者接受 24IU 鼻内催产素或安慰剂单次给药，然后完成已知受额颞叶痴呆和催产素影响的情绪识别任务。给药后 8 小时和 1 周，护理人员完成了经过验证的行为评定。与安慰剂和基线评分相比，催产素给药当晚神经精神病学评定量表评分显著改善。催产素还与行为变异型额颞叶痴呆患者识别愤怒面部表情的能力下降有关。这些发现表明，催产素可能是行为变异型额颞叶痴呆患者有前途的新型对症治疗候选药物，有必要进一步研究这种神经肽在额颞叶痴呆中的作用。
