Date: 2013-01-28
Reference number: OPUSeJ 201301282446ASD
Links: http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v3/n1/full/tp2012143a.html
Title: Unique acyl-carnitine profiles are potential biomarkers for acquired mitochondrial disease in autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Richard E Frye 1, Stepan Melnyk 1 and Derrick F MacFabe 2
Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with mitochondrial disease (MD). Interestingly, most individuals with ASD and MD do not have a specific genetic mutation to explain the MD, raising the possibility of that MD may be acquired, at least in a subgroup of children with ASD. Acquired MD has been demonstrated in a rodent ASD model in which propionic acid (PPA), an enteric bacterial fermentation product of ASD-associated gut bacteria, is infused intracerebroventricularly. This animal model shows validity as it demonstrates many behavioral, metabolic, neuropathologic and neurophysiologic abnormalities associated with ASD. This animal model also demonstrates a unique pattern of elevations in short-chain and long-chain acyl-carnitines suggesting abnormalities in fatty-acid metabolism. To determine if the same pattern of biomarkers of abnormal fatty-acid metabolism are present in children with ASD, the laboratory results from a large cohort of children with ASD (n=213) who underwent screening for metabolic disorders, including mitochondrial and fatty-acid oxidation disorders, in a medically based autism clinic were reviewed. Acyl-carnitine panels were determined to be abnormal if three or more individual acyl-carnitine species were abnormal in the panel and these abnormalities were verified by repeated testing. Overall, 17% of individuals with ASD demonstrated consistently abnormal acyl-carnitine panels. Next, it was determined if specific acyl-carnitine species were consistently elevated across the individuals with consistently abnormal acyl-carnitine panels. Significant elevations in short-chain and long-chain, but not medium-chain, acyl-carnitines were found in the ASD individuals with consistently abnormal acyl-carnitine panels—a pattern consistent with the PPA rodent ASD model. Examination of electron transport chain function in muscle and fibroblast culture, histological and electron microscopy examination of muscle and other biomarkers of mitochondrial metabolism revealed a pattern consistent with the notion that PPA could be interfering with mitochondrial metabolism at the level of the tricarboxylic-acid cycle (TCAC). The function of the fatty-acid oxidation pathway in fibroblast cultures and biomarkers for abnormalities in non-mitochondrial fatty-acid metabolism were not consistently abnormal across the subgroup of ASD children, consistent with the notion that the abnormalities in fatty-acid metabolism found in this subgroup of children with ASD were secondary to TCAC abnormalities. Glutathione metabolism was abnormal in the subset of ASD individuals with consistent acyl-carnitine panel abnormalities in a pattern similar to glutathione abnormalities found in the PPA rodent model of ASD. These data suggest that there are similar pathological processes between a subset of ASD children and an animal model of ASD with acquired mitochondrial dysfunction. Future studies need to identify additional parallels between the PPA rodent model of ASD and this subset of ASD individuals with this unique pattern of acyl-carnitine abnormalities. A better understanding of this animal model and subset of children with ASD should lead to better insight in mechanisms behind environmentally induced ASD pathophysiology and should provide guidance for developing preventive and symptomatic treatments.
Author bio: N/A
Sponsor editor: N/A
Affiliations/disclaimers/funding/acknowledgements: 1 Department of Pediatrics, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR, USA. 2 The Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group-Departments of Psychology (Neuroscience) and Psychiatry, Lawson Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada Correspondence: Dr RE Frye, Department of Pediatrics, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Slot 512-41B, 13 Children′s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202, USA. E-mail REFrye@uams.edu. This research was supported in part from generous contributions from GoodLife’s Children’s Foundation and Autism Research Institute to DFM. We thank Dr Raymond Thomas (postdoctoral fellow) for published data on brain lipids and Drs Stephan Kahler and Anirudh Saronwala for their insight into propionic metabolism.
Keywords: acyl-carnitines; autism spectrum disorder; clostridia; microbiome; mitochondrial disease; propionic acid
Subject: Science/ autism
Language: English
Bibliography: see forum
Citation: Frye, R E, S Melnyk & D F MacFabe, 2013, “Unique acyl-carnitine profiles are potential biomarkers for acquired mitochondrial disease in autism spectrum disorder”, Translational Psychiatry (2013) 3, e220; Published online 22 January 201. doi:10.1038/tp.2012.143. http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v3/n1/full/tp2012143a.html
References: see Forum http://www.opusej.org/library/unique-acyl-carnitine-profiles-are-potential-biomarkers-for-acquired-mitochondrial-disease-in-autism-spectrum-disorder-forum/