The Basics of Autism

During the week of November 17, my neurochemistry class and I learned about and discussed a very common mental disorder that impacts many families throughout the world. The disorder that I am referring to is autism. Autism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. People who have autism have a difficult time making friends because of their impaired social and communication skills. It is one of the three disorders that are recognized to be on the autism spectrum. The other two diseases that are on the autism spectrum are Asperger syndrome and pervasive development disorder, not otherwise specified, which is diagnosed when the criteria for autism and Asperger syndrome are not met. In our particular discussion of this disorder, we primarily talked about the many different mechanisms that are impacted within an affected individual. In this blog, I hope to convey this information as accurately and clearly as possible.
It is believed that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs as a result of disjointed information processing in the brain due to alterations in how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize. Researchers have determined that there are several lines of evidence that point to synaptic dysfunction as a cause of autism. There are rare mutations that may lead to autism by disrupting some synaptic pathways, primarily those that are involved in cell adhesion. The neurolignin genes, which encode postsynaptic adhesion, undergo point mutations and deletions that have been observed in patients with autism. Currently, there are no cures for autism, but the neurolignin genes could potentially be a target for future research regarding a cure for this disorder.
Another system that is negatively impacted in patients with autism is the cholinergic neurotransmitter system. People with autism have neuropathologic abnormalities in the cholinergic nuclei in the basal forebrain, which is an aspect of the cholinergic neurotransmitter system. Within the cholinergic neurotransmitter system, the levels of important nicotinic receptors were significantly lower in autism patients compared to patients without autism. This causes the level of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to be higher in the basal forebrain of individuals with autism. These findings suggest that abnormalities of the cholinergic nervous system must exist in autism.
Although there is not currently a cure on the market for autism, researchers are in the early stages of clinical trials of a potential cure. In the meantime, it is important for individuals with autism to utilize the necessary treatment protocols in order to try to improve their social and communication skills. One important treatment that is utilized for autism is to increase the intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the diets of people with autism. PUFAs are essential for brain growth and development and enhance cognitive development and memory. In addition to this, PUFAs inhibit the production of neurotoxic cytokines and enhance nitric oxide synthesis. This prevents neuronal apoptosis and facilitates memory improvement and consolidation. Overall, increasing PUFAs in a person’s diet will increase their social and communication skills.
Since autism is such a common neurological disorder and is even becoming increasingly more common, it is important to know and understand its negative effects on the brain. The disorder doesn’t allow the proper formation of synapses to occur in the central nervous system and it also negatively impacts the cholinergic neurotransmitter system. Overall, it has been very interesting learning about autism and the effects it has within a person’s brain.