Impaired gut microbial detoxification seen in ASD

A new study from China suggests that the gut microbes of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are impaired in their ability to detoxify harmful substances, and that this impairment may cause injury to the mitochondria—the “power plants” of cells. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a common finding in ASD. 

Mengxiang Zhang and colleagues compared children with ASD and neurotypical controls, using a “quasi-pairing” strategy to compare the children with ASD to controls who would normally have similar gut microbiomes due to factors such as age and place of residence. The researchers analyzed stool samples from 65 ASD/control pairs. 

They report, “[O]ur study revealed a previously unidentified ASD-associated deficiency in microbial detoxification, which exhibited a strong correlation with the degree of mitochondrial dysfunction, as well as the severity of clinical manifestations.” They hypothesize, “When the intestinal microbial detoxification is severely impaired in ASD, more toxicants of external and internal origins might enter circulation and injure the mitochondria of various tissues. Thus, our finding of impaired microbial detoxification helps explain why ASD children are so vulnerable to environmental toxins and suggests that impairment in microbial detoxification might be involved in the pathogenesis of ASD.” 

While the researchers note that the reasons for the impairment in microbial detoxification seen in individuals with ASD are not clear, they say, “These findings pave the way for designing future therapeutic strategies to restore microbial detoxification capabilities for patients with ASD.”

Citations

“A quasi-paired cohort strategy reveals the impaired detoxifying function of microbes in the gut of autistic children,” Mengxiang Zhang, Yanan Chu, Qingren Meng, Rui Ding, Xing Shi, Zuqun Wang, Yi He, Juan Zhang, Jing Liu, Jie Zhang, Jun Yu, Yu Kang, and Juan Wang, Science Advances, October 21, 2020 (free online). Address: Juan Wang, [email protected].