The assessment of serum omentin levels of children with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The early life growth of head circumference, weight, and height in infants with autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review

BACKGROUNDS

The Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence has increased significantly over the past two decades. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the association between the early life growth of head circumference (HC), weight, and height with ASD in infants.

METHODS

PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to November 2021 using relevant keywords. All original articles are written in English evaluating the early life growth of HC, weight, and height in infants with ASD were eligible for the present review.

RESULTS

Totally, 23 articles involving 4959 infants were included in this review. Of 13 studies that evaluated HC of infants at birth, 10 studies (83.33%) showed that the HC at the birth of autistic children was similar to that of the average found in the control group. Among 21 studies that evaluated the HC and weight status in infants, 19 studies (90.47%) showed that autistic children had larger HC and weight than the control group or abnormal acceleration of head growth during infancy. Height growth of infants was investigated in 13 studies, of which 10 cases (76.92%) reported that infants with ASD were significantly longer than control groups. Most of he included studies had a good quality.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that in infants with ASD, without the contribution of birth growth factors and sex of the child, the growth of HC, weight, and height probably was faster than in infants with normal development, in early life. Therefore, these measurements might be useful as initial predictive biomarkers for the risk of developing ASD.

The impact of maternal high-fat diet on offspring neurodevelopment

A maternal high-fat diet affects offspring neurodevelopment with long-term consequences on their brain health and behavior. During the past three decades, obesity has rapidly increased in the whole human population worldwide, including women of reproductive age. It is known that maternal obesity caused by a high-fat diet may lead to neurodevelopmental disorders in their offspring, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. A maternal high-fat diet can affect offspring neurodevelopment due to inflammatory activation of the maternal gut, adipose tissue, and placenta, mirrored by increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in both maternal and fetal circulation. Furthermore, a maternal high fat diet causes gut microbial dysbiosis further contributing to increased inflammatory milieu during pregnancy and lactation, thus disturbing both prenatal and postnatal neurodevelopment of the offspring. In addition, global molecular and cellular changes in the offspring's brain may occur due to epigenetic modifications including the downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression and the activation of the endocannabinoid system. These neurodevelopmental aberrations are reflected in behavioral deficits observed in animals, corresponding to behavioral phenotypes of certain neurodevelopmental disorders in humans. Here we reviewed recent findings from rodent models and from human studies to reveal potential mechanisms by which a maternal high-fat diet interferes with the neurodevelopment of the offspring.

Serum adiponectin levels are reduced in autism spectrum disorder and association with severity of symptoms

Recent evidence highlights the role of adiponectin in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yielding conflicting results. The aims of this study were (1) To assess the adiponectin levels of children with ASD and typical developing (TP); (2) To investigate the relationship between adiponectin levels and symptom severity of children with ASD. This is a single-center cross-sectional study from China. From December 2017 to November 2019, first-diagnosis and drug-naïve children with ASD were included. Same TP children who were matched with clinical groups by gender and age were included as the control group. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit was used to determine serum concentrations of adiponectin. We recorded 176 children (88 were ASD and 88 were TP children) and 77.3% (n = 136) were boys and the mean age was 4.3 years (standard deviations [S.D.]: 1.2). The mean (S.D.) levels of adiponectin were 9.01(2.19) and 11.55(2.32) μg/ml for those with ASD and TP subjects. The difference between those two groups was significant (t = 7.169, p < 0.001). There was a negative correlation between serum levels of adiponectin and Childhood Autism Rating Scale [CARS] score (r = -0.498, p < 0.001). At admission, 39 ASD (54.5%) had a minor autism (CARS<37). In these children, the mean (S.D.) adiponectin level was higher than that observed in children with moderate-to-severe clinical severity (10.09[2.32] vs.8.15[1.64] μg/ml, P < 0.001). This study shows that serum adiponectin. Levels are decreased in ASD when compared with in healthy children. The findings also indicate an inverse association between serum adiponectin levels and severity of symptoms in ASD.