Pubmed du 11/04/22
1. Dovgan K, Nowell KP, Hecmanczuk T. Brief report: The impact of the broad autism phenotype on parent perception of autism symptoms in their children with and without autism spectrum disorder compared to teachers. Research in developmental disabilities. 2022; 125: 104231.
BACKGROUND: Evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes caregiver-reported rating scales of symptom presentation. The extent to which a broad autism phenotype (BAP) in parents of children with ASD might impact their endorsement of autism symptoms in their children with and without ASD has not been well evaluated. AIMS: This study analyzed whether varying degrees of parental BAP were associated with reported autism symptoms in offspring with and without ASD. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: We used the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire as a measure of BAP in parents and parent- and teacher-report on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) to assess autism symptoms in children with ASD and their typically developing (TD) siblings (N = 5714). We assessed the relationship between parental BAP and parent-teacher discordance. We compared teacher reports of autism symptoms in children with varying degrees of BAP exposure. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Mothers with higher levels of BAP over-reported autism symptoms in their children (compared to teachers) than mothers with lower BAP. TD children from parents with greater BAP displayed more autism symptoms than children from households with less BAP. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: BAP is associated with parent report of autism symptoms when compared to teacher report. For children with ASD, it is possible that differences in ratings reflect parent perception and not autism symptomatology; whereas, TD children from households with higher levels of BAP exposure showed more phenotypic autism symptom presentation on teacher-completed measures. Researchers and clinicians should consider BAP when interpreting caregiver and teacher reports.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
2. Sever IH, Ozkul B, Bozkurt MF, Erbas O. Therapeutic effect of finasteride through its antiandrogenic and antioxidant role in a propionic acid-induced autism model: Demonstrated by behavioral tests, histological findings and MR spectroscopy. Neuroscience letters. 2022; 779: 136622.
BACKGROUND: Autism is a clinically defined neurodevelopmental disorder with unknown origin characterized by significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Although it can be a lifelong condition, treatments can help alleviate symptoms and enhance a patient’s quality of life. PURPOSE: We aimed to assess the therapeutic potential of finasteride in autism with biochemical markers, histopathological evaluation, behavioral tests and radiological imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Propionic acid (PPA) was injected intraperitoneally into 20 out of 30 rats for 5 days to establish an autism model. Rats were randomly assigned into four groups: control group (no procedure was applied, n = 10), placebo group (intraperitoneal PPA + 1 ml/kg/day % 0.9 NaCl saline was given via oral gavage for 15 days, n = 10) and treated group (intraperitoneal PPA + 5 mg/kg/day of finasteride was given via oral gavage for 15 days, n = 10). After 4 days of behavioral tests, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was performed for measuring creatine and lactate levels. All animals were sacrificed for histopathological examination and biochemical analysis of brain tissue. RESULTS: MDA, NFκB, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-17A and lactate levels in brain homogenates were significantly increased in the placebo group compared to the control group, while Nfr2 levels were decreased; and the levels of all biochemical markers were reversed by finasteride treatment. A significant improvement was observed in autism-like behaviors in rats treated with finasteride compared to the placebo group. Further, the creatine and lactate levels in corpus striatum in MRS, the neuronal counts and glial activity of the hippocampus and cerebellum were closer to the control group in the finasteride-treated group compared to the placebo group. CONCLUSION: Finasteride led significant improvement in autism-like symptoms with its antioxidant effect through Nrf2 modulation in addition to its anti androgen effect.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
3. Simashkova NV, Ivanov MV, Boksha IS, Klyushnik TP, Zozulya SA, Sharlay IA. Epidemiological Screening for the Risk of Mental, Behavioral and Developmental Disorders, Including Autism, in Early Childhood: Data for Russia 2017-2019. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022.
We aimed to screen children aged 18-48 months in the general population of nine Russian regions for risk of mental, behavioral and developmental disorders (MBDDs) including autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using an original screening tool. The prevalence of the risk for MBDDs is 1307:10,000 (13.07%), the prevalence of clinically verified cases of MBDDs is 151:10,000 (1.51%), whereas the prevalence of ASD among them is 18:10,000 (0.18%). Basing on our results, the screening procedures are already integrated into the Russian primary care system since the end of 2019. Screening of the risk for MBDDs including ASD in Russia among children in the general pediatric population is a promising area of preventive medicine.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
4. Zhou Y, Liu Y, Peng Q, Li F, Chen F. β-arrestin2 mediates the hippocampal dopaminergic system in autistic mouse through the ERK signaling pathway. Behavioural brain research. 2022; 428: 113888.
Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disease that may be caused by genetic and environmental factors, that are incompletely understood. Overactivation of dopaminergic receptors can lead to autistic-like behavior. β-arrestin2 (Arrb2) is a scaffolding protein of the arrestin family, which function as cytosolic multifunctional adapter proteins that activate cell signal transduction and mediate the signal termination and endocytosis of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) complexes. In this study, we established an Arrb2 knockout (Arrb2(-/-)) mouse to explore the biological function of Arrb2 in autistic-like behavior caused by abnormality in the dopaminergic system. We found that Arrb2(-/-) mice did not exhibit the autistic-like behavior normally induced by SKF38393, an agonist of the dopamine receptor 1 (D1R). Compared with wild-type (WT) untreated mice, the SKF38393-treated WT mice and Arrb2(-/-) mice, with or without SKF38393 treatment, showed abnormalities on electroencephalography (EEG) and increased stimulation of the phosphorylated form of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) via the PKA/Rap1/B-Raf/MEK pathway. These results demonstrated that Arrb2 regulated the dopaminergic system through the ERK signaling pathway in the occurrence and development of autism, and that targeted deletion of Arrb2 impeded the development of autistic-like behavior.
