Lower Availability of Mitochondrial Complex I in Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Autism: A Positron Emission Tomography Study.

Objective: Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in previous studies of postmortem brain or peripheral samples. The authors investigated whether and where mitochondrial dysfunction occurs in the living brains of individuals with ASD and to identify the clinical correlates of detected mitochondrial dysfunction.

Methods: This case-control study used positron emission tomography (PET) with 2--butyl-4-chloro-5-{6-[2-(2-[F]fluoroethoxy)-ethoxy]-pyridin-3-ylmethoxy}-2H-pyridazin-3-one ([F]BCPP-EF), a radioligand that binds to the mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I, to examine the topographical distribution of mitochondrial dysfunction in living brains of individuals with ASD.

Oxytocin-induced increase in N,N-dimethylglycine and time course of changes in oxytocin efficacy for autism social core symptoms.

Background: Oxytocin is expected as a novel therapeutic agent for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) core symptoms. However, previous results on the efficacy of repeated administrations of oxytocin are controversial. Recently, we reported time-course changes in the efficacy of the neuropeptide underlying the controversial effects of repeated administration; however, the underlying mechanisms remained unknown.

Polyamine Oxidase5 Regulates Arabidopsis Growth through Thermospermine Oxidase Activity.

The major plant polyamines (PAs) are the tetraamines spermine (Spm) and thermospermine (T-Spm), the triamine spermidine, and the diamine putrescine. PA homeostasis is governed by the balance between biosynthesis and catabolism; the latter is catalyzed by polyamine oxidase (PAO). Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) has five PAO genes, AtPAO1 to AtPAO5, and all encoded proteins have been biochemically characterized.

Imaging mass spectrometry: principle and application.

Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is two-dimensional mass spectrometry to visualize the spatial distribution of biomolecules, which does not need either separation or purification of target molecules, and enables us to monitor not only the identification of unknown molecules but also the localization of numerous molecules simultaneously. Among the ionization techniques, matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is one of the most generally used for IMS, which allows the analysis of numerous biomolecules ranging over wide molecular weights. Proper selection and preparation of matrix is essential for successful imaging using IMS.