Serotonin transporter availability in adults with autism—a positron emission tomography study

Andersson, Max; Tangen, Ämma; Farde, Lars; Bölte, Sven; Halldin, Christer; Borg, Jacqueline; Lundberg, J.

doi:10.1038/s41380-020-00868-3

Cited by 41 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Similar findings have been reported in adults with ASD. Serotonin availability is significantly lower in the CNS of adults with ASD compared with controls (Andersson et al 2020). The findings of this study and many others endorse a significant association of serotonin with ASD.…”

Section: The Serotonin Pathwaysupporting

confidence: 56%

Reasoning through the Gut: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis and its Role in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Singh

Dalton

2021

J Stud Res

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The age-old phrase ‘gut feeling’ is increasingly finding a scientific basis. The human gut houses a massive colony of microorganisms that not only maintain intestinal function, but also have far-reaching connections to the brain through a complicated ‘microbiota-gut-brain’ (MGB) axis. This axis has now been established to have implications in the management of various neuro-psychological conditions including Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition that affects the way people communicate, behave and interact with others. Once considered a rare disorder, it is now estimated to have a prevalence of about 1 in 54 children in the United States. It is unfortunate that the existing cognitive-behavioral therapy protocols for ASD are prolonged and expensive, and that there is no currently approved medication for the core symptoms of the disorder. Scientists are now exploring the MGB axis for establishing possible therapeutic targets to alleviate the symptoms of ASD. This review attempts to highlight how the MGB axis works, and to capture the essence of the mechanisms that implicate the MGB axis in the pathogenesis of ASD. Further research in this direction may convincingly establish the role of novel treatment options for ASD ranging from probiotics and dietary modifications to newer modalities like fecal transplants, vagal nerve stimulation and gene therapy. Microbes, and not just behavioral intervention therapy, may hold the key to treating ASD.

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Section: The Serotonin Pathwaysupporting

confidence: 56%

Reasoning through the Gut: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis and its Role in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Singh

Dalton

2021

J Stud Res

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“…This gene encodes a serotonin transporter, involved in serotonergic neurotransmission. Several studies have found an association between 5HTT and ASD, with people of the spectrum exhibiting increased levels of serotonin as a result of lower 5-HTT availability in several brain areas, although the mechanism probably involves other genes interacting with 5-HTT (Coutinho et al, 2004;Veenstra-VanderWeele et al 2012;Andersson et al, 2021). Reif and colleagues (2007) also found a significant correlation between a specific allele on 5HTT and the relationship between maltreatment, stress, and adversity in childhood and violent/aggressive behavior later in life, suggesting that this gene has an impact as well on how childhood maltreatment affects adults.…”

Section: Geneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the case for ‘feral’ humans under the light of the human self-domestication hypothesis: focusing on language

Niego¹,

Benítez‐Burraco²

2021

Preprint

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Historically, some cases of ‘feral’ children have been reported. Contemporary descriptions generally preclude any insightful inference about the nature and the extent of the language deficits exhibited by these children, as well as the ultimate causes of their problems with language. However, they have been regularly used to support the view that language acquisition requires a proper social environment in order to occur. In this paper, we revisit the case for ‘feral’ children with the viewpoint that human evolution entailed a process of self-domestication that parallels what we find in domesticated animals. Because feralization commonly occurs in nature and because it entails a partial reversion of features of domestication, this self-domestication approach to the evolution of language reassesses the case for ‘feral’ children, particularly when compared with present-day conditions involving abnormal patterns of socialization, whether they are genetically-triggered as in autism spectrum disorder, or environmentally-triggered, as in reactive attachment disorder. Overall, the structural and functional language deficits observed in these human groups emerge as useful proxies for previous stages in the evolution of language(s) under the influence of human self-domestication.

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“…SSRIs prevent the reuptake of 5-HT by inhibiting the SERT at the presynaptic axon terminal. SERT binding is lower throughout the autistic brain, resulting in deficits in social cognition (SERT reduction in anterior and posterior cingulate cortices) and repetitive and obsessive behaviours (SERT reduction in the thalamus) (Andersson et al, 2020;Nakamura et al, 2010). Further, Makkonen et al (2008) found reduced SERT binding in the medial frontal cortex, an area connected to the ability to interpret another's thoughts and intentions (theory of mind) in children and adolescents with ASD.…”

Section: Neurotransmittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Immune Rat Model of Autism: Does Environmental Enrichment Alter Higher Social Functioning?

Wilkin-Krug¹

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The neurodevelopmental condition autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is marked by impaired communication, impaired social interaction, and repetitive or restricted behaviours (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). ASD is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, including maternal infection during pregnancy. There are no pharmacological treatment options for ASD, but environmental enrichment (EE) is a promising alternative to rehabilitate or prevent related symptoms. Patients with ASD often have a deficit in higher social abilities, including prosociality, but to date, no rat studies have investigated how EE affects higher social functions in the context of ASD. Therefore, this thesis investigated the effect of EE on higher social functions in an in vivo rodent model of ASD. Using a two-by-two factorial design, pregnant Sprague Dawley rats received either saline or the viral mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) to trigger an immune reaction and were placed in either standard or enriched housing. In the enrichment groups, pups received pre-weaning enrichment sessions while animals in the standard-housing groups were left undisturbed until weaning. I assessed the animals’ neonatal communication, general sociability and social novelty behaviour, prosocial tendencies, and locomotor activity. The main hypothesis I investigated was that the maternal immune reaction would disrupt fetal neural development and alter communication and social behaviours in the offspring and that EE would reduce or reverse these deficits. There was a transient poly I:C effect on neonatal communication early on, but the treatment did not cause long-term social deficits. Poly I:C also affected adult locomotor activity but did neither reduce sociability nor prosociality. As the very weak treatment effects did not result in clear deficits, EE could not lead to improvements. While the findings did not offer insight into the enrichment effect on impaired prosocial behaviours, this was likely due to methodological issues and limitations. Future ASD research should address these concerns to further the understanding of how environmental adjustments can stimulate the impaired social parts of the brain to redirect the atypical developmental trajectory towards a more typical one.

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Serotonin transporter availability in adults with autism—a positron emission tomography study

Cited by 41 publications

References 90 publications

Reasoning through the Gut: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis and its Role in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Reasoning through the Gut: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis and its Role in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Revisiting the case for ‘feral’ humans under the light of the human self-domestication hypothesis: focusing on language

An Immune Rat Model of Autism: Does Environmental Enrichment Alter Higher Social Functioning?

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