Contributions of the environment and environmentally vulnerable physiology to autism spectrum disorders

Herbert, Martha R.

doi:10.1097/wco.0b013e328336a01f

Cited by 310 publications

(222 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…The number and volume of worldwide traded and registered chemicals has dramatically increased in recent years. Simultaneously, the incidence of neurological diseases, including mental retardation and autism, as well as developmental and learning disorders or hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit, has also increased [1][2][3]. The developing central nervous system (CNS) is particularly susceptible to damage by chemicals and therefore, assessment of the chemicals surrounding us on a daily basis for adverse effects on the maturing CNS -also referred to as developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) -is critical for human health and wealth [4][5][6].…”

Section: Showcase: In Vitro-based Dnt Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Generation of Efficient Methodologies for Cell-Based Toxicity Screening by Comparative Protocol Analysis and Optimization

Mofrad¹,

Kuenzel²,

Friedrich³

et al. 2017

Single Cell Biol

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In cell biology in general and in high-throughput cell-based screening approaches in particular -e.g. for in vitrobased toxicity assessment -various methodologies or protocols are reported in the literature. In the case that a cell-based screening assay, for toxicity evaluation or for assessing another biological question, is to be established for the first time in a research lab, the researcher has to select a number of different protocols from the literature and to create an optimized protocol for the intended use. This is typically required, because optimized protocols, generated following comparative protocol analysis and optimization, are mostly rarely available. In another study, which we refer to as a showcase, we conducted a comparative analysis of three different protocols for neuronal NT2 cell differentiation, available in the literature. From this comparison, we generated an improved and optimized method, allowing for neuronal NT2 differentiation in monolayer cultures with high yield of NT2-N cells, allowing for systematic in vitro-based primary screening for developmental toxicants and neuro-toxicants at different stages of maturation. In this commentary, to prevent the same experiments from being repeatedly conducted in different labs around the world and at different times over and over again, we suggest generation of advanced and efficient methods by comparative protocol analysis and optimization, for application in a variety of research fields, related to cell and single cell biology. Keywords:In vitro DNT testing; NT2 human pluripotent stem cells; Protocol optimization; High-throughput screening Showcase: In vitro-Based DNT TestingEveryday products such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, detergents, plastic or pesticides, contain organic and inorganic chemical substances, that are potentially harmful to humans and the ecosystems. The number and volume of worldwide traded and registered chemicals has dramatically increased in recent years. Simultaneously, the incidence of neurological diseases, including mental retardation and autism, as well as developmental and learning disorders or hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit, has also increased [1][2][3]. The developing central nervous system (CNS) is particularly susceptible to damage by chemicals and therefore, assessment of the chemicals surrounding us on a daily basis for adverse effects on the maturing CNS -also referred to as developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) -is critical for human health and wealth [4][5][6]. Currently, as of January 2017, the CAS Registry (Chemical Abstracts Service), the world's largest database of chemical substances, lists more than 126 million unique organic and inorganic chemicals. Of these chemicals, only very few representatives have been evaluated for DNT in recent years [7,8]. The reason for this is possibly because existing guidelines for toxicity evaluation mostly involve animal experiments that are expensive, low in throughput, of poor predictive quality, often not reproducible and, because t...

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Section: Showcase: In Vitro-based Dnt Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Generation of Efficient Methodologies for Cell-Based Toxicity Screening by Comparative Protocol Analysis and Optimization

Mofrad¹,

Kuenzel²,

Friedrich³

et al. 2017

Single Cell Biol

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“…Some autism susceptibility genes have been identified (Weiss et al, 2009), but gene interactions with environmental factors are increasingly suspected (Deth et al, 2008;Herbert, 2010). Recent reviews have focused mostly on genomic screens that suggest there are multiple gene interactions in autism; however no gene abnormality alone can explain the apparent increase in ASD prevalence (Durkin et al, 2010;Herbert, 2010;Miles, 2011). Increasing evidence suggests that there are different ASD endophenotypes, even within the ASD spectrum (Palmieri & Persico, 2010).…”

Section: He Could Fit In the Palms Of Both Hands Seemed To Look At Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Perinatal Immune Activation and Risk of Autism

Theoharides¹,

Angelidou²,

Alysandratos³

et al. 2011

Autism - A Neurodevelopmental Journey From Genes to Behaviour

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“…As a result neurobiological understanding of social development is crucial for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention in these disorders. Recent advances in brain imaging [4,5], genome studies [6], and neurobiology in animal models [7,8] have revealed neuronal substrates of the social brain network and a role for environmental factors in the inception and lifelong modulation of ASD [9]. Domestic chick (Gallus gallus) studies have contributed to the understanding of early developmental sensory-motor processes in face-recognition [7,10], attention towards biological motion [11], self-propelled agency [12], and call-recognition in kinship [13][14][15][16], which provide a developmental foundation for what later becomes the adult cortical brain network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate PCA Analysis Combined with Ward’s Clustering for Verification of Psychological Characterization in Visually and Acoustically Social Contexts

Mimura¹,

Shirakawa²,

Nakamura³

et al. 2013

J Clin Toxicol

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The development of the nervous system is a process of gene-environment interaction through prenatal and neonatal stages. The chemical environment may cause mal-development of the social brain network leading to developmental disorders. Thus, we need to develop a new behavioral method which distinguishes the subtle difference in early stage development of sensory-motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive processing in humans and animal models. Here, we have developed an innovative tool for signal processing to structuralize the behavioral elements from a large body of complex information via the multivariate analysis (principal components analysis combined with Ward's clustering) using an animal model (domestic chicks) and found dynamical differences of combined behavioral parameters over social contexts between socially affiliated chicks and isolated chicks. We prepared two groups each containing six subjects, each group had its peer-social environments regulated, either isolated or grouped, and then their social interaction was tested through a series of social contexts consisting of four serial contexts, 1) firstly isolation, 2) acoustical interaction, 3) acoustical and visual meeting with the reference peers, and lastly 4) isolation again. Results show the juveniles' social cognition and emotion was visualized as specific clustering structures with active and affective behavioral factors that were seen only in context three with unfamiliar peers visually and acoustically but were not seen in isolation or the social auditory without visual context. These results suggest the usefulness of the combined multivariate analysis under sensory cued-restricted contexts to quantitatively reveal a subtle difference of socio-emotional behavior.

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Contributions of the environment and environmentally vulnerable physiology to autism spectrum disorders

Abstract: Prevalence, genetic, exposure, and pathophysiological evidence all suggest a role for environmental factors in the inception and lifelong modulation of ASD. This supports the need for seeking targets for early and ongoing medical prevention and treatment of ASD.

Cited by 310 publications

References 74 publications

On the Generation of Efficient Methodologies for Cell-Based Toxicity Screening by Comparative Protocol Analysis and Optimization

On the Generation of Efficient Methodologies for Cell-Based Toxicity Screening by Comparative Protocol Analysis and Optimization

Perinatal Immune Activation and Risk of Autism

Multivariate PCA Analysis Combined with Ward’s Clustering for Verification of Psychological Characterization in Visually and Acoustically Social Contexts

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