Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a range of conditions classified as pervasive developmental disorders which include autism, Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), childhood disintegrative disorder, and Rett syndrome. Most patients are diagnosed between the ages of 2 to 4. And some common characteristics shared these disorders are social deficits, communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests, and sometimes even cognitive delays. According to the study done by the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, about 1 in 88 children has been identified with an ASD in the United States. This approximately 1% prevalence of ASDs is also shared across Europe, as well as some Asian countries. Therefore, ASDs have become a global problem which scientists from all over the world are trying to understand and come up with treatments for. In the paper we read for this week, the authors studied the environmental and genetic factors as well as the neurochemical mechanism of ASDs and proposed a hypothesis regarding to the issue, the redox/methylation hypothesis.
Due to the evidences of oxidative stress and impaired methylation found in most of the autistic children, the authors went over the metabolic relationship between oxidative stress and methylation and focused on the activity of methionine synthase. According to the authors, genetic risk factors and environmental exposures combined could cause impaired sulfur metabolism, which will induce so called oxidative stress in the patients’ brain. The oxidative stress then decreases the activity of methionine synthase and ultimately causes lowered attention and cognition, as well as developmental delays result from alternation in gene expressions, the common symptoms seen in ASDs.
According to Lauren, most of the current treatments for ASDs are different kinds of therapies including Behavioral and communication, Educational, and family therapies. The medications that are available can only help controlling the symptoms. Therefore, if this hypothesis is true, this piece of information can be really helpful for the scientists and pharmaceutical companies to develop new treatments for ASDs.
Two summers ago, I worked as a TA at the summer camp hosted by the YMCA. There was a little boy who suffers from autism in my class that I was told to pay special attention to. In the beginning to this summer camp, I noticed that this little boy would not pay attention in class and he would often get into fights with other kids. He was seen as the “trouble maker” by most of the TAs including myself. But as I got to know him better and better, I found out that he was actually often reading higher level readings or drawing all those amazing pictures that not even an untrained adult (like me) could draw. And I realized that most autistic kids are just like normal kids if not smarter, and all they lack are the ability to socialize and to express what they have in their minds. Therefore, if we can successfully come up with new treatments for ASDs, maybe one day we will be able to see and hear the beautiful minds of the autistic children.
"A"lways "U"nique "T"otally "I"nteresting "S"ometimes "M"ysterious
