Image: Norma Desmond
A specific antioxidant supplement may be an effective therapy for some features of autism, according to a pilot trial from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital that involved 31 children with the disorder.
The antioxidant, called N-Acetylcysteine, or NAC, lowered irritability in children with autism as well as reducing the children’s repetitive behaviors. The researchers emphasized that the findings must be confirmed in a larger trial before NAC can be recommended for children with autism.
Irritability affects 60 to 70 percent of children with autism. “We’re not talking about mild things: This is throwing, kicking, hitting, the child needing to be restrained,” said Antonio Hardan, MD, the primary author of the new study. “It can affect learning, vocational activities and the child’s ability to participate in autism therapies.”
The study appears in the June 1 issue of Biological Psychiatry. Hardan is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic at Packard Children’s. Stanford is filing a patent for the use of NAC in autism, and one of the study authors has a financial stake in a company that makes and sells the NAC used in the trial. [continue reading…]
When children with autism were randomly compared with typically developing children or children with other developmental disorders, biomarkers correctly identified more than thirty percent of autistic children without incorrectly identifying a single non-autistic child. Image: istockphoto
utism is difficult to diagnose because of a lack of specific biological markers and a variability of symptoms, ranging from mild in some individuals to severely disabling in others.
Now a team of University of Washington and Battelle scientists have identified metabolites in urine that could potentially predict young children at risk of developing autism.
The varying degrees and manifestations of this developmental brain condition are collectively called autistic spectrum disorder. ASD is characterized by impaired social interactions, difficulty in communicating, and repetitive behaviors. Many other symptoms also can be present, including anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, sleep disorders, and gastrointestinal problems.
Currently, diagnosing a child with ASD requires a thorough evaluation by a team of health professionals from a wide range of specialties. Early intervention often can reduce or prevent the more severe symptoms and disabilities associated with ASD.
Autism specialists and many other people look forward to a day when a test for a biological marker might detect autism risk in young children. To this end, Seattle researchers evaluated porphyrins in the urine of children to determine if the levels of these metabolites could predict ASD. [continue reading…]
Image: Norma Desmond
Though the study did not show why there is an increase in autistic symptoms, it may be tied to some of the underlying causes of why a child is born preterm (prior to 37 weeks) or post-term (after 42 weeks) in the first place, says Tammy Movsas, postdoctoral fellow in the department of epidemiology at Michigan State University.
Published online in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, the study reveals there are many different manifestations of autism spectrum disorder, a collection of developmental disorders including both autism and Asperger syndrome and shows the length of the mother’s pregnancy is one factor affecting the severity of the disorder. [continue reading…]
Published: March 21, 2012
Image: iStockphoto
erotonin is a brain chemical that carries signals across the synapse, or gap between nerve cells. The supply of serotonin is regulated by the serotonin transporter (SERT).
In 2005, a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University led by Randy Blakely and James Sutcliffe identified rare genetic variations in children with ASD that disrupt SERT function.
In a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers report the creation of a mouse model that expressed the most common of these variations.
The change is a very small one in biochemical terms, yet it appears to cause SERT in the brain to go into overdrive and restrict the availability of serotonin at synapses.
“The SERT protein in the brain of our mice appears to exhibit the exaggerated function and lack of regulation we saw using cell models,” said Blakely, director of the Vanderbilt Silvio O. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research.
“Remarkably, these mice show changes in social behavior and communication from early life that may parallel aspects of ASD,” noted first author Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, assistant professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and pharmacology.
The researchers conclude that a lack of serotonin during development may lead to long-standing changes in the way the brain is wired. [continue reading…]
