Characterization of the Pathological and Biochemical Markers that Correlate to the Clinical Features of Autism
Abstract
Brain tissue is highly heterogeneous with different functions localized in specific areas. We compared the markers of oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation) and antioxidant status (catalase activity) in frozen brain samples from the cerebellum and frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortex of autistic and age-matched normal subjects. In autism, a significant increase in protein oxidation was observed in frontal cortex, temporal cortex, and cerebellum. In the cerebellum and temporal cortex in autism, lipid peroxidation was also significantly increased and catalase activity involved in antioxidant defense was significantly decreased. In contrast, no significant change in above oxidative stress markers was observed in other brain regions between autism and control groups. Since increased oxidative stress in autism can affect the activities of membrane-bound enzymes, namely Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca2+/Mg2+-ATPase that play important roles in signal transduction, we compared their activities in autism and controls. Brain-region specific increases in the activities of Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca2+/Mg2+-ATPase was observed in the cerebellum and frontal cortex in autism (Ji etal. Life Sci. in press). In contrast, in other regions, i.e., the temporal, parietal and occipital cortices, the activities of these enzymes were similar in autism and control groups. These results suggest that oxidative stress differentially affects selective regions of the brain, i.e. cerebellum, frontal cortex and temporal cortex in autism, and that altered activities of membrane-bound enzymes may contribute to abnormal neuronal circuit functioning in this disease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA513301
Entities
People
- Abha Chauhan
Organizations
- Research Foundation For Mental Hygiene