Estimation of autistic children by metallomics analysis

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 1199
• Main Authors: Yasuda, Hiroshi, Yasuda, Yuichi, Tsutsui, Toyoharu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.02.2013; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/1689/1373; 631/378/2584/2585; 692/699/375/366; 704/172/169/895; Adolescent; Aluminum; Aluminum - analysis; Arsenic; Arsenic - analysis; Autism; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Cadmium; Cadmium - analysis; Calcium; Calcium - analysis; Calcium - deficiency; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Copper - analysis; Early Diagnosis; Environmental factors; Female; Hair; Hair - chemistry; Heavy metals; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Lead - analysis; Magnesium; Magnesium - analysis; Magnesium Deficiency; Male; Mercury; Mercury - analysis; Metals - analysis; multidisciplinary; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Nutrient deficiency; Scalp; Scalp - chemistry; Science; Trace elements; Trace Elements - analysis; Trace Elements - deficiency; Zinc - analysis; Zinc - deficiency
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep01199

Clarification of the pathogenesis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders is one of the challenges today. In this study, we examine scalp hair concentrations of 26 trace elements for 1,967 children with autistic disorders (1,553 males and 414 females). Five-hundred and eighty-four (29.7%), 347 (17.6%) and 114 (5.8%) subjects was found deficient in zinc, magnesium and calcium, respectively and 2.0% or less in the other essential metals. The incidence rate of mineral deficiency was highly observed in infants aged 0-3 year-old. In contrast, 339 (17.2%), 168 (8.5%) and 94 (4.8%) individuals was found suffering from high burden of aluminium, cadmium and lead and 2.8% or less from mercury and arsenic burden. These findings suggest that infantile zinc- and magnesium-deficiency and/or toxic metal burdens may epigenetically play principal roles as environmental factors in autistic disorders and that metallomics approach may lead to early screening and prevention of the neurodevelopment disorders.