Patterns of Brain Maturation in Autism and Their Molecular Associations.

Importance: In the neurotypical brain, regions develop in coordinated patterns, providing a fundamental scaffold for brain function and behavior. Whether altered patterns contribute to clinical profiles in neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, remains unclear.

Objectives: To examine if, in autism, brain regions develop differently in relation to each other and how these differences are associated with molecular/genomic mechanisms and symptomatology.

Frontal and occipital brain glutathione levels are unchanged in autistic adults.

Background: The neurobiological underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are diverse and likely multifactorial. One possible mechanism is increased oxidative stress leading to altered neurodevelopment and brain function. However, this hypothesis has mostly been tested in post-mortem studies.

The 'PSILAUT' protocol: an experimental medicine study of autistic differences in the function of brain serotonin targets of psilocybin.

Background: The underlying neurobiology of the complex autism phenotype remains obscure, although accumulating evidence implicates the serotonin system and especially the 5HT receptor. However, previous research has largely relied upon association or correlation studies to link differences in serotonin targets to autism. To directly establish that serotonergic signalling is involved in a candidate brain function our approach is to change it and observe a shift in that function.

Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers.

Identifying factors linked to autism traits in the general population may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying divergent neurodevelopment. In this study we assess whether factors increasing the likelihood of childhood autism are related to early autistic trait emergence, or if other exposures are more important. We used data from 536 toddlers from London (UK), collected at birth (gestational age at birth, sex, maternal body mass index, age, parental education, parental language, parental history of neurodevelopmental conditions) and at 18 months (parents cohabiting, measures of socio-economic deprivation, measures of maternal parenting style, and a measure of maternal depression).