Nowadays, there seems to be a consensus about the multifactorial nature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The literature provides hypotheses dealing with numerous environmental factors and genes accounting for the apparently higher prevalence of this condition. Researchers have shown evidence regarding the impact of gut bacteria on neurological outcomes, altering behavior and potentially affecting the onset and/or severity of psychiatric disorders. Pesticides and agrotoxics are also included among this long list of ASD-related environmental stressors. Of note, ingestion of glyphosate (GLY), a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide, can reduce beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract microbiota without exerting any effects on the Clostridium population, which is highly resistant to this herbicide. In the present study, (i) we performed a systematic review to evaluate the relationship between Clostridium bacteria and the probability of developing and/or aggravating autism among children. For that purpose, electronic searches were performed on Medline/PubMed and Scielo databases for identification of relevant studies published in English up to December 2017. Two independent researches selected the studies and analyzed the data. The results of the present systematic review demonstrate an interrelation between Clostridium bacteria colonization of the intestinal tract and autism. Finally, (ii) we also hypothesize about how environmental GLY levels may deleteriously influence the gut–brain axis by boosting the growth of Clostridium bacteria in autistic toddlers.
Glyphosate (GLY) is the active ingredient of Roundup® and it is the most utilized herbicide worldwide in the maintenance of conventional agricultural crops, and lawns in parks. A growing number of studies have associated environmental GLY to different pathologies such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and autism. Different fish species have been used for a long time as experimental biological models to measure the environmental impact of different substances. Therefore, the present study approached the possible association between the exposure to GLY / Roundup® and the ecotoxicological impact on fish reproductive health. With this goal, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the literature and its content by systematic review of international databases. Two independent electronic searches were performed on Medline / PubMed and Scielo for identifying relevant studies published in English up to September 2019. The application of inclusion / exclusion criteria settled the boundaries for this systematic review and after qualitative analysis of the data; we found evidences that suggest a link between the exposure to GLY / Roundup® with deleterious effects on reproductive health in eight different species of fish.
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