Effect of fluoxetine on regional cerebral metabolism in autistic spectrum disorders: a pilot study

Abstract

The regional metabolic effects of fluoxetine were examined in patients with autism spectrum disorders. Six adult patients with DSM-IV and Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI) diagnoses of autism (n l 5) and Asperger's syndrome (n l 1), entered a 16-wk placebo-controlled cross-over trial of fluoxetine. The patients received ")F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography with co-registered magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and at the end of the period of fluoxetine administration. After treatment, the patients showed significant improvement on the scores of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale -Obsessions subscale and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale ; Clinical Global Impressions -Autism scores showed 3 of the patients much improved and 3 unchanged. Relative metabolic rates were significantly higher in the right frontal lobe following fluoxetine, especially in the anterior cingulate gyrus and the orbitofrontal cortex. Patients with higher metabolic rates in the medial frontal region and anterior cingulate when unmedicated were more likely to respond favourably to fluoxetine. These results are consistent with those in depression indicating that higher cingulate gyrus metabolic rates at baseline predict SRI response.

Fluoxetine response in children with autistic spectrum disorders: correlation with familial major affective disorder and intellectual achievement

“…Such a pattern of disturbance would correspond to the low left-hemisphere serotonin found with C 11 -AMT PET scans in young boys with autism (Chugani et al 1997, DeLong 1999. Recently, it has been found that fluoxetine treatment increases regional cerebral glucose metabolism as shown by F 18 DG PET (18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) studies in autistic patients (Buchsbaum et al 2001). …”

Assessment and Treatment of Obsessions and Compulsions in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: a Systematic Review

“…RCTs treating OCD symptoms among participants with ASD, 11 studies (Hollander et al 2005(Hollander et al , 2006aKing et al 2009;Martin et al 1999Martin et al , 2003McDougle et al 1997McDougle et al , 2000McDougle et al , 2005Posey et al 2007;Stigler et al 2009) evaluated interventions for children and adolescents (<18 years), 6 studies (McDougle et al 1995a(McDougle et al , 1996(McDougle et al , 1998Buchsbaum et al 2001;Hollander et al 2003Hollander et al , 2012 evaluated treatment for adults, and 2 studies (Gordon et al 1993;Potenza et al 1999) included both children and adults. None included participants with a formal diagnosis of OCD.…”

Amygdala–Prefrontal Disconnection in Borderline Personality Disorder

“…We assessed rGMR within BAs by tracing coronal slices based on a digitized brain atlas with 33 coronal slice maps of BAs defined by microscopic examination of an entire postmortem brain, a technique detailed elsewhere (Buchsbaum et al, 2001Hazlett et al, 2000;Mitelman et al, 2005). To assess the effect of m-CPP on rGMR, the dependent measure for PET analyses on drug effect was expressed as difference scores (m-CPP-placebo) for rGMR within each BA, calculated by subtracting placebo counts for each region of interest in each subject from the corresponding rGMR from the m-CPP scan.…”