Open AccessA Trial of D-Cycloserine to Treat the Social Deficit in Older Adolescents and Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Author(s) -
Maria R. Urbano,
Leonore Okwara,
Paul Manser,
Kathrin Hartmann,
Stephen I. Deutsch
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences/the journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.964
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1545-7222
pISSN - 0895-0172
DOI - 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13070155
Subject(s) - autism , cycloserine , discontinuation , autism spectrum disorder , psychology , young adult , dosing , nmda receptor , partial agonist , randomized controlled trial , clinical psychology , agonist , psychiatry , medicine , pediatrics , developmental psychology , receptor , tuberculosis , pathology
Autism spectrum disorders are difficult for older adolescents and young adults as impaired social communication affects the transition to adult life. d-Cycloserine, a partial glycine agonist at the N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor, was tested in a double-blind randomized trial in 20 older adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders using two dosing strategies (50 mg daily versus 50 mg weekly) for 8 weeks with a 2-week follow-up after discontinuation. d-Cycloserine caused statistically and clinically significant improvement with no differentiation between dosing strategies on the Social Responsiveness Scale and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist before and after d-cycloserine administration.