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Vasopressin boosts sociability in solitary monkeys
Inhaling the hormone did not increase aggression in unsociable rhesus macaques and appears to help the animals remember faces and reciprocate friendly behaviors.
The new study involved eight male rhesus macaques at the California National Primate Research Center that naturally display low sociability—for instance, they spend less time than usual grooming other monkeys. In a pilot phase 2A randomized clinical trial, 17 children with autism who received intranasal vasopressin for four weeks showed improvements in interpreting the mental states of others, recognizing others’ emotions via facial expressions, and other social abilities, Parker and her colleagues reported in 2019. They would also like to administer nebulized vasopressin to infant monkeys that display a high chance of low sociability “to test whether we can alter their developmental trajectories and prevent the onset of these social-interaction impairments,” Parker says.
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