OU Health Sciences Center Researcher Studies Possible Treatment for Diseases with Social Deficits

People with autism spectrum disorder and other neuropsychiatric diseases that heavily feature social deficits have no drugs available to treat their difficult and, at times, debilitating symptoms. Researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad, MBBS, Ph.D., has been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to research the regulation of oxytocin receptor signaling in neurons and the effect the mechanisms have on social behavior.

Interest Turns Into Realization

Ahmad is an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine at the OU Health Sciences Center. For many years, he has been interested in understanding how neurotransmitter receptors are regulated in the brain, specifically, which molecular mechanisms control the activity and trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors.

“I realized quite some time back that very little is known about the regulation of oxytocin receptor in the brain, which is one of many important neurotransmitter receptors,” Ahmad said. “The action of oxytocin acting on oxytocin receptor has been found to be important for many social behaviors including parental, sexual and non-sexual social behavior.”

Research Study

Ahmad’s research study focuses on one specific type of neurons in the brain and the characteristic feature is that they contain a neuro modulator called oxytocin. Oxytocin is a small peptide and is commonly called the ‘love hormone’ because it is for most purposes, a ‘pro-social’ chemical that is released during social interaction. The oxytocin is released into the surrounding areas and into the cerebrospinal fluid which bathes both the inside and outside of the brain and acts on its receptor present on other neurons in the brain. Oxytocin binds to the receptor and activates a signal pathway, or mechanism, inside the neurons.

The study seeks to understand how the mechanisms are activated and regulated and how they make the pathways either weaker or stronger. “Answering this question is very important because my work, as well as studies from other labs, have determined that changes in the activity and trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors determine to a large extent how neuronal circuits in the mammalian brain respond to experience and allow codification of these experiences in the form of memory and long-term change in behavior,” Ahmad said.

Pro-social hormones increase the interaction between humans, but there are many diseases where the social interaction is impaired. These include neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, major depression and social anxiety where social withdrawal is a very prominent. “I believe that understanding how the activity and trafficking of oxytocin receptor regulated in the cells of the brain will help us tap into the system to increase the downstream signaling pathway. This is predicted to increase social behavior and provide relief for those experiencing social withdrawal as a consequence of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia,” said Ahmad.

For further information about the research study please contact Ahmad at Mohiuddin-Ahmad@ouhsc.edu