1 / 17

Aluminum and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A working hypothesis

Aluminum and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A working hypothesis. June 25, 2014 Sneha Sheth Experimental Medicine, UBC Supervisor: Dr. Chris Shaw. Research Question: Do aluminum adjuvants contribute to an autism-like phenotype in young mice?. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

haruko
Download Presentation

Aluminum and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A working hypothesis

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Aluminum and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A working hypothesis June 25, 2014 SnehaSheth Experimental Medicine, UBC Supervisor: Dr. Chris Shaw

  2. Research Question: Do aluminum adjuvants contribute to an autism-like phenotype in young mice?

  3. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

  4. Two-Hit hypothesis for ASD Genes Environment Neuroinflammatory processes and immune dysfunction associated with ASD can result following pre or post natal exposure to various xenobiotics (i.e., bisphenol A, PCBs, Pb, Hg and Al)4

  5. Examples of Aluminum Exposure

  6. Aluminum is a neurotoxin • impairs memory, cognition and psychomotor control • impairs neurotransmission and synaptic activity • blood brain barrier changes • pro-oxidant • activates microglia and brain inflammation • depresses brain glucose metabolism • impairs protein transcription • promotes neurite damage • promotes amyloidosis • (Tomljenovic, J of Alzheimers Dis 2011, 23(4): 567-598)

  7. A case for Al in the etiology of ASD?

  8. Protocol: Yang, M., Silverman, J. L. and Crawley, J. N. 2011. Automated Three-Chambered Social Approach Task for Mice. Current Protocols in Neuroscience. 56:8.26.1–8.26.16. Social Interaction Test

  9. Study Design

  10. Preliminarydata Males * Females

  11. Overall Limitations & proposed solutions

  12. Conclusion and key takeaways • Aluminum is a proven neurotoxin • Oddities in social interaction is a defining characteristic of Autism Spectrum disorders • Young male and female mice have shown deficits in social interaction as a result of aluminum exposure • More data is needed to establish a putative role of aluminum in the etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders

  13. References • Hendry J, DeVito T, Gelman N, Densmore M, Rajakumar N, Pavlosky W, Williamson PC, Thompson PM, Drost DJ, Nicolson R.White matter abnormalities in autism detected through transverse relaxation time imaging. Neuroimage 2006; 29: 1049–57 • Vargas DL, Nascimbene C, Krishnan C, Zimmerman AW, Pardo CA. Neuroglial activation and neuroinflammation in the brain of patients with autism. Ann Neurol. 2005;57(1):67-81. • Vojdani A, Campbell AW, Anyanwu E, et al. Antibodies to neuron-specific antigens in children with autism: possible cross-reaction with encephalitogenic proteins from milk, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Streptococcus group A. J Neuroimmunol2002;129(1-2):168-77  • Dietert RR, Dietert JM. Potential for early-life immune insult including developmental immunotoxicity in autism and autism spectrum disorders: focus on critical windows of immune vulnerability. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 2008;11(8):660-80. • Tomljenovic L. Aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease: After a Century of Controversy, Is there a Plausible Link? J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;23(4):567-98. • Toimela T, Tahti H. Mitochondrial viability and apoptosis induced by aluminum, mercuric mercury and methylmercury in cell lines of neural origin. Arch Toxicol. 2004;78(10):565-74. • Li X, Zheng H, Zhang Z, Li M, Huang Z, Schluesener HJ, et al. Glia activation induced by peripheral administration of aluminum oxide nanoparticles in rat brains. Nanomedicine. 2009;5(4):473-9 • W. Zheng, Journal of Toxicology. Clinical Toxicology 39 (2001) 711–719. • Oliveira, G., Diogo, L., Grazina, M., Garcia, P., Psych, A. A., Marques, C., Miguel, T., Borges, L., Vicente, A. M. and Oliveira, C. R. (2005), Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders: a population-based study. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 47: 185–189.  • Tomljenovic, Lucija;  Shaw, Christopher A(2011) Journal of inorganic biochemistry vol. 105 (11) p. 1489-99 • C.J. Newschaffer, M.D. Falb, J.G. Gurney, Pediatrics 115 (2005) e277–e282.

  14. Thank you for listening! Questions?

More Related