EFFECTS OF ORG-2766 ON BRAIN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS OF AUTISTIC-CHILDREN

A double-blind, placebo-controlled study examined the effects of 6 wee ks of treatment with the adrenocorticotropin(4-9) analogue ORG-2766 (4 0 mg/day) on brain event-related potentials (ERPs) of autistic childre n, In visual and auditory oddball paradigms (with task and nontask con ditions), standard (80%), target (10%), and unexpected novel stimuli ( 10%) were presented, ORG-2766 (a) increased the occipital P-3 componen t of the ERP to visual targets, (b) decreased the occipital P-3 compon ent of the ERP to auditory targets, (c) did not affect visual and audi tory parietal target P-3 components, and (d) also did not affect the A /P-cz/300 to auditory novel stimuli. In addition, ORG-2766 treatment i ncreased the N-1 component of the ERP to task-irrelevant auditory stim uli.