Oxidative Stress Markers in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background: The etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) remains elusive, this medical condition is considered a multifactorial disorder influenced by genetic and environmental factors as well as increased vulnerability to oxidative stress. The understanding of the potential role of oxidative stress in the etiopathogenesis of autism would be very useful for earlier clinical, therapeutic or preventive strategies.

Objectives: To evaluate the redox status in ASD patients compared with control children.

Methods: To evaluate the redox status we quantified the activity of the antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT), glutathione concentration (GSH) and markers of damage to biomolecules, malonyldialdehyde (MDA) and 8–hydroxy-2deoxyguanosine (8OHdG) in peripheral blood samples of 45 children with autism and 42 age-matching control children.

Results: The reduced GSH content in autistic patients was significantly lower compared with the control group (0.24 ± 0.162 vs. 0.94 ± 0.115, respectively, p ≤ 0.001). Higher serum CAT, MDA and 8OHdG levels were found in children with autism compared with controls (CAT, 2.836 ± 0.479 vs. 0.689 ± 0.157, p ≤ 0.001; MDA 8.6 ± 0.5 vs. 1.76 ± 0.33 p ≤ 0.001, and 8OHdG 13.134 ± 1.33 vs.1.46 ± 0.326, p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions: The present study supports the notion that oxidative stress is associated with autism,  but additional researches are needed to investigate how it may contribute to autistic pathophysiology and these studies are currently in progress.