Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental neurological condition that affects how people communicate, behave, and learn new things.
Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder include difficulties interacting with others and adapting to changes and interests that are restricted or fixed in certain things.
Symptoms of autism can appear at any age, but the first signs often begin to appear during the first two years of a child’s life.
Until today, neuroscientists and medical researchers have not identified the main causes of autism spectrum disorder. However, previous findings suggest that it could be caused by the interaction of certain genes with environmental factors.
However, recent studies in neuroscience have found that the biological makeup of the gut can contribute to some of the most characteristic symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. More specifically, the new experiments, conducted in mice, suggest that the relationship between gut bacteria and the central nervous system can influence social behavior.
Building on the results of previous studies, researchers at the Universities of Rome Tor Vergata and the University of Calabria in Italy recently conducted a new study in mice, to investigate the effects of transplanting germs collected from autistic donors on mice.
These researchers’ findings, published in the journal Neuroscience, provide more evidence linking gut microbiota to social behaviors typical of autism spectrum disorder.
“Transplanting germs from donors of autistic children into mice resulted in autistic behaviors compared to offspring of pregnant females exposed to valproic acid (VPA),” Ennio Avolio and colleagues wrote in their paper.
Valproic acid is a chemical compound that has found clinical use as an anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer, according to Wikipedia’s online encyclopedia.
Avolio and colleagues examined two different groups of mice. Mice in the first group (the experimental group) received gut bacteria that originated from the intestines of children with autism, while the mice in the other group (the control group) were exposed to valproic acid (VPA).
The team observed that mice that received germs from children with autism spectrum disorder exhibited unusual behaviors while completing various maze tests that are widely used in neuroscience studies. The behaviors of this group of mice can be linked to those observed in children and adults with autism.
The latest findings, compiled by this team, appear to confirm previous findings in the field, suggesting that gut microbiota could indeed play a role in social behaviors. In the future, these researchers’ study could contribute to the testing and inclusion of new treatments for autism that also consider diet and gut health.
“Overall, the results of the current study confirm the key role of gut microbes in autism spectrum disorder,” the team wrote in the research, adding, “However, further investigations are needed before any possible manipulation of gut bacteria with diets or probiotics can be made in people with unitedly.”
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