What is it about?

Autistic patients are known to have neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) and impaired neurotransmission as major components of their illness, and both the neuroinflammation and impaired neurotransmission appear to have very important gastrointestinal origins. Gut microbes produce substances (eg, LPS) that cause brain inflammation in addition to increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut") and systemic inflammation. Additionally, gut microbes also produce substances that alter neurotransmitter metabolism. These effects, especially in combination, appear to contribute to autistic behavioral-cognitive abnormalities.

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Why is it important?

Given the evidence of gut-originated neuropsychiatric abnormalities in autism, clinicians have new insight into the pathophysiology (cause) and treatment of autism.

Perspectives

Clinicians can and should address the gut microbiome component of autism in order to help patients improve; dietary modification and various antibiotics and fecal transplant have already shown benefit.

Dr Alex Vasquez
Biotics Research Corporation

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Biological plausibility of the gut-brain axis in autism, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, November 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13516.
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