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Last Updated: Dec 27th, 2006 - 19:07:47 |
A new study suggested that excessive cellular oxidative stress may be a factor causing autism.
In the study, researchers measured plasma glutathione and its metabolic precursors in 95 autistic children and 75 children without autism. It was found that levels of glutathione are significantly lower in autistic children than in the children without autism.
Glutathione is a key detoxifying compound in cells. The researchers believed that deficiency of glutathione cause excessive oxidative stress because the cells cannot deal with the damaging free radials adequately. The excessive free radials can damage the sensitive cells in the brain, the gastrointestinal tract, and the immune system, which eventually contribute to the development of autism.
Further studies suggested that three genes, namely, the catecho-O-methyltransferase gene, the transcobalamin II gene, and the glutathione-S-transferase M1 gene, may be affected somehow in the autistic children. It's not clear how these genes are involved in the autistic metabolic disorder.
One out of 300 children in the U.S. suffered from autism. It’s not clear what exactly causes the disorder although the environmental pollution such as mercury pollution has been suspected to be a key factor. A recent study linked mercury pollution in Texas with a high incident rate of autism.
The present study was performed by Dr. S. Jill James and collogues from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine. The results were April 2 at the American Society for Nutritional Sciences scientific sessions at Experimental Biology 2005 in San Diego.
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