Projects / Programmes
Biochemical correlates of autism spectrum disorders
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.07.00 |
Medical sciences |
Metabolic and hormonal disorders |
|
autism spectrum disorders, heavy metals, opioid peptides
Researchers (11)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication, and stereotyped interests and behaviors. The prevalence of ASD has increased substantially over the last decade rising from 5/ to 60/10000. In the majority of cases the cause of ASD is unknown. Genetic and enviromental risk factors seem to be involved. Specific biological markers have yet to be found. Athough there's a consensus about the strong genetic bases, the unequivocal evidence for the genetic association with ASD has so far not been established. Morever, with the increased prevalence of ASD the influence of a definite set of genetic determinants has become more difficult to determine. On the other hand there are many possible biochemical correlates which may also be of relevance of the syndrome. So far, the bulk of neurochemical research in ASD has been inconclusive and contradictory. Among the enviromental factors the elevated toxic metals or different metals imbalance, possibly linked with decreased detoxification capacity due to genetic polymorphism or some immune-mediated mechanisms, has been mentioned as possible causal factors. Besides, it has been suggested that peptides from gluten and casein may have a role in the origins of ASD and that the physiology and psychology of ASD might be explained by excessive opioid activity linked to these peptides. The aim of this study is to study a sample of subjects of ASD with a wide protocol, including clinical and neurophysiological investigations as well as laboratory investigations including the heavy metals levels in blood and opioid peptides level in urine in order to investigate the neurobiological basis of the syndrome.
Significance for science
SAM represents developmental disturbances with different etiology. Basicly there is a mixture of genetic and envoronmental factors. With our study we tried to add smo additional information about the impact of heavy metals on SAM, mainly because the fact that we can read very different literature in this field..In the scientific world our study enrich the knowledge mainly because we used children with other neurologic disturbances as a control group. Mainly researchers have a control group of healthy children.
Significance for the country
In Slovenia this is the first study made on children with SAM. Among the results we would like to emphasize, that we got a tendency towards lower plasma Zink values, and this will lead us that in future we will include plasma Zink determination as routine test. Important result of the study is also the implementation of new methods in the laboratory: Hg in blood, porfiryne fractions and peptides in urine.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
