Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of Oxidative Stress in Autism: Defective Antioxidant Enzymes and Increased Lipid Peroxidation

  • Published:
Biological Trace Element Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood with poorly understood etiology and pathology. This pilot study aims to evaluate the levels of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of lipid peroxidation, in Egyptian autistic children. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood with poorly understood etiology and pathology. The present study included 20 children with autism diagnosed by DSM-IV-TR criteria and Childhood Autism Rating Scale. Controls included 25 age-matched healthy children. Cases were referred to Outpatient Clinic of Children with Special Needs Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. We compared levels of SOD, GSH-Px, and MDA in children with autism and controls. In children less than 6 years of age, levels of SOD, and GSH-Px were significantly lower in autistic children compared with their controls, while MDA was significantly higher among patients than controls. In children older than 6 years, there was no significant difference in any of these values between cases and controls. We concluded that children with autism are more vulnerable to oxidative stress in the form of increased lipid peroxidation and deficient antioxidant defense mechanism especially at younger children. We highlight that autistic children might benefit from antioxidants supplementation coupled with polyunsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, early assessment of antioxidant status would have better prognosis as it may decrease the oxidative stress before inducing more irreversible brain damage.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bölte S, Poustka F (2002) The relation between general cognitive level and adaptive behavior domains in individuals with autism with and without co-morbid mental retardation. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 33(2):165–172

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Blaxill M, Redwood L, Bernard S (2004) Thimerosal and autism? A plausible hypothesis that should be dismissed. Med Hypotheses 62:788–794

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sung YJ, Dawson G, Munson J, Estes A, Schellenberg GD, Wijsman EM (2005) Genetic investigation of quantitative traits related to autism: use of multivariate polygenic models with ascertainment adjustment. Am J Hum Genet 76:68–81

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fombonne E, Zakarian R, Bennett A, Meng L, McLean-Heywood D (2006) Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: prevalence and links with immunizations. Pediatrics 118(1):e139–e150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kern JK, Jones AM (2006) Evidence of toxicity, oxidative stress, and neuronal insult in autism. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev 9(6):485–499

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ming X, Johnson WG, Stenroos ES, Mars A, Lambert GH, Buyske S (2010) Genetic variant of glutathione peroxidase 1 in autism. Brain Dev 32(2):105–109

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ng F, Berk M, Dean O, Bush AI (2009) Oxidative stress in psychiatric disorders: evidence base and therapeutic implications. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 11(6):851–876

    Google Scholar 

  8. Söğüt S, Zoroğlu SS, Ozyurt H, Yilmaz HR, Ozuğurlu F, Sivasli E, Yetkin O, Yanik M, Tutkun H, Savaş HA, Tarakçioğlu M, Akyol O (2003) Changes in nitric oxide levels and antioxidant enzyme activities may have a role in the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in autism. Clin Chim Acta 331(1–2):111–117

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Perry G, Nunomura A, Harris S, Smith M, Salomon R (2005) Is Autism a disease of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress in autism symposium, New York State, Institute for basic research in Developmental Disabilities. p. 15

  10. James SJ, Cutler P, Melnyk S, Hernigan S, Janak L, Gaylor DW, Neubrander JA (2004) Metabolic biomarkers of increased oxidative stress and methylation capacity in children with autism. Am J Clin Nutr 80(6):1611–1617

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Chauhan A, Chauhan V (2006) Oxidative stress in autism. Pathophysiology 13(3):171–181

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn. Text revision, Washington, DC

  13. Schopler E, Reichler RJ, DeVellis RF, Daly K (1980) Toward objective classification of childhood autism: childhood autism rating scale (CARS). J Autism Dev Disord 10(1):91–103

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tanner JM, Hiernaux J, Jarman S (1969) Growth and physique studies. In: Weiner JS, Lourie JA (eds) Human biology: a guide to field methods, I.B.P. handbook No.9. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford and Edinburgh, pp 1–29

    Google Scholar 

  15. Arthur JR, Boyne R (1985) Superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities in neutrophils from selenium deficient and copper deficient cattle. Life Sci 36(16):1569–1575

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Anderson PH, Berret S, Patterson DS (1978) Glutathione peroxidase activity in erythrocytes and muscle of cattle and sheep and its relationship to selenium. J Comp Pathol 88(2):181–189

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Chauhan VPS, Tsiouris JA, Chauhan A, Sheikh AM, Brown WT, Vaughan M (2002) Increased oxidative stress and decreased activities of Ca2+/Mg2+—ATPase and Na+/K +—ATPase in the red blood cells of the hibernating black bear. Life Sci 71:153–161

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Jain SK (1989) Hyperglycemia can cause membrane lipid peroxidation and osmotic fragility in human red blood cells. J Biol Chem 264(35):21340–21345

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Coplan J, Jawad A (2005) Modeling clinical outcome of children with autistic spectrum disorders. Pediatrics 116(1):117–122

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Charman T, Taylor E, Drew A, Cockerill H, Brown JA, Baird G (2005) Outcome at 7 years of children diagnosed with autism at age 2: predictive validity of assessments conducted at 2 and 3 years of age and pattern of symptom change over time. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 46(5):500–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Yorbik O, Sayal A, Akay C, Akbiyik DI, Sohmen T (2002) Investigations of antioxidant enzymes in children with autistic disorder. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 67(5):341–343

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Chauhan A, Chauhan V, Brown WT, Cohen I (2004) Oxidative stress in autism: increased lipid peroxidation and reduced serum levels of ceruloplasmin and transferrin—the antioxidant proteins. Life Sci 75(21):2539–2549

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Klein JA, Ackerman SL (2003) Oxidative stress, cell cycle, and neurodegeneration. J Clin Invest 111(6):785–793

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Chauhan A, Chauhan V, Cohen IL, Brown WT (2005) Increased lipid peroxidation and membrane rigidity in autism: relationship with behavior abnormalities, oxidative stress. In autism symposium, Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities Staten Island, New York

  25. Boso M, Emanuele E, Minoretti P, Arra M, Politi P, Ucelli di Nemi S, Barale F (2006) Alterations of circulating endogenous secretory RAGE and S100A9 levels indicating dysfunction of the AGE-RAGE axis in autism. Neurosci Lett 410(3):169–173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Emanuele E, Boso M, Brondino N, Pietra S, Barale F, Ucelli di Nemi S, Politi P (2010) Increased serum levels of high mobility group box 1 protein in patients with autistic disorder. Prog Neuro-Psychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 34:681–683

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Klevay LM (2003) Advances in cardiovascular-copper research. In: Schrauzer GN, (ed) First international bio-minerals symposium: trace elements in nutrition, health and disease, Institute Rosell, Montreal, Canada

  28. Powell SR (2000) The antioxidant properties of zinc. J Nutr 130:1447–1454

    Google Scholar 

  29. Erden-Inal M, Sunal E, Kanbak G (2002) Age related changes in the glutathione redox system. Cell Biochem Funct 20(1):61–66

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research on Children with Special Needs, National Research Center, Tahrir St., Cairo, Egypt

    Nagwa A. Meguid, Ahmed A. Dardir, Ehab R. Abdel-Raouf & Adel Hashish

Authors
  1. Nagwa A. Meguid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ahmed A. Dardir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ehab R. Abdel-Raouf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Adel Hashish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nagwa A. Meguid.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Meguid, N.A., Dardir, A.A., Abdel-Raouf, E.R. et al. Evaluation of Oxidative Stress in Autism: Defective Antioxidant Enzymes and Increased Lipid Peroxidation. Biol Trace Elem Res 143, 58–65 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-010-8840-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-010-8840-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation