Association of serum allopregnanolone with restricted and repetitive behaviors in adult males with autism
| Autor: | Ryan E. Flores, Booil Jo, Emily Arnold, Leila Chew, Zhe Wang, Kevin L. Sun, Jayakumar Rajadas, Lawrence K. Fung, Wenchao Sun |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Neuroactive steroid Autism Spectrum Disorder Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Dehydroepiandrosterone Pregnanolone Article 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound 0302 clinical medicine Endocrinology Internal medicine mental disorders medicine Humans Biological Psychiatry Testosterone Endocrine and Autonomic Systems business.industry Allopregnanolone medicine.disease 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health chemistry Autism spectrum disorder In utero Autism business 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Hormone |
| Zdroj: | Psychoneuroendocrinology |
| ISSN: | 0306-4530 |
| Popis: | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) neurotransmission systems, as well as with neuroinflammation. Sitting at the crossroads between E/I imbalance and neuroinflammation is a class of endogenous hormones known as neurosteroids. Current literature points to dysregulated steroid metabolism and atypical neurosteroid levels in ASD as early as in utero. However, due to the complexity of neurosteroid metabolomics, including possible sex differences, the impact of neurosteroids on ASD symptomatology remains unclear. In this study, we assessed neurosteroid levels and ASD symptom severity of 21 males with ASD and 20 full-scale-IQ-matched typically developing (TD) males, all aged 18 to 39. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, concentrations of allopregnanolone, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, progesterone, and testosterone were measured in saliva and serum. With the exception of cortisol’s, all neurosteroids’ concentrations were found to have ASD vs. TD group differences in distribution, where one group was normally distributed and the other non-normally distributed. Serum allopregnanolone levels in males with ASD were found to negatively correlate with clinician-rated measures of restricted and repetitive behavior measures (ADOS-2 RRB and ADI-R RRSB domain scores). Additionally, lower serum allopregnanolone levels were found to predict more negative camouflaging scores, which represent greater differences in self- and clinician-rated symptom severity, of both ASD symptomatology overall and repetitive behaviors in particular. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that in adult males with ASD, decreased serum allopregnanolone levels are associated with more severe restricted and repetitive behaviors and with less insight into the severity of these behaviors. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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