Scientists identify the specific metabolic features of the autistic brain

Skoltech scientists have studied differences in the levels of several metabolites in healthy humans and people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to better understand the molecular processes that take place in the brains of people with autism. The results of the study were published in Nature & # 39; s Biology of communication newspaper.

ASD is a range of disorders of the nervous system that is manifested primarily by impaired cognitive function and social communication and interaction skills. The underlying molecular mechanisms of ASD are still poorly understood.

Scientists from the Skoltech Neuroscience and Brain Restoration Center (CNBR), Mount Sinai School of Medicine Icahn (ISMMS, New York, USA), the Max Planck Institute in Potsdam, and the Institute of Cologne (Germany) studied metabolites, tiny molecules. this form in the prefrontal cortex as a result of biochemical reactions in the human system, both in healthy people and people with ASD, and compared the results to tests performed for the same brain region in macaques and chimpanzees. The study was conducted using mbad spectrometry, an extremely precise and sensitive badytical technique that identified and measured the concentrations of 1,366 different molecules grouped in 16 metabolic pathways.

By referring to blood and urine samples from healthy people, scientists have discovered many differences in metabolite concentrations between autistic and healthy humans. Interestingly, most of these differences are known to be related to the metabolic pathways that were discovered earlier in the urine and blood samples collected from people with autism. When comparing brain metabolites in humans and other mammals, including chimpanzees and macaques, it is clear that a marked difference between healthy and autistic individuals is observed in metabolic pathways affected by multiple evolutionary changes specific to humans, leading scientists to: I think autism tends to disrupt the evolution of new mechanisms.

"Some previous studies have clearly shown differences in metabolite concentrations in the urine and blood, but have failed to establish a possible link with brain processes. is focused on the prefrontal cortex, where we have identified a multitude of metabolic characteristics specific to ASD, compared the metabolites of the human brain with those of the chimpanzee and the macaque, and found that ASDs act on new metabolic pathways ", says one of the authors of the study, Ekaterina Khrameeva, badistant professor at Skoltech.

Provided by
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech)