Brain inflamation

[Guest guest]

I picked this out of the SAR report. It's another piece of evidence that points

to possible

viral issues associated with autism. Inflamation typically happens when the

immune

system is responding to something. We've seen evidence of brain inflamation in

the past

and this is another piece of supporting evidence for a greater set of families

to be trying

antiviral therapy on their children.

I'm back from my trip and will get back in the swing of things later on

tomorrow.

- Stan

Finding Adds Another Piece to Autism Puzzle

By Sabbagh for HealthDay

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=5308867 & nav=3w6r

Contrary to common medical thought, young children with autism do

not

have accelerated brain growth even though their brains appear enlarged,

new

research claims.

The finding, published in the Aug. 22 issue of Neurology,

confirms

some earlier reports and conflicts with others.

Dr. Dager, of the University of Washington School of

Medicine,

and his colleagues compared 60 autistic children to 16 children with

developmental delay and 10 children with typical development. They used

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to measure the transverse

relaxation

(T2) of gray and white matter in the children's cortexes. This measures

how

much water is moving around inside brain tissue, and it gives

clinicians an

indirect way to measure brain maturation.

The researchers found the autistic children had differences in

the

gray matter of their brains compared to the children with typical

development. A number of studies has suggested the brains of younger

children with autism are 10 percent larger, Dager explained. This new

research honed in on tissue chemistry and found the abnormality wasn't

due

to lack of " pruning, " which is how the normal developing brain rids

itself

of unnecessary neurons.

The abnormality is " clearly not accelerated brain growth. An

alternative hypothesis could be inflammatory processes. Our data would

be

consistent with adult studies that found higher levels of cytokines,

associated with inflammation, in postmortem studies, " he explained.

A popular current theory is that autistic children have more

rapid

brain growth that plateaus at the age of 5 or 6. " We didn't find

evidence

for that, just the opposite, in fact, " Dager said. " The processes that

go

along with brain maturation were slower in the autistic brains,

particularly

in gray matter. "

The finding is " tantalizing, " said Shih, director of

research

and programs at the National Alliance for Autism Research. " This is one

of

the first attempts to differentiate beyond volumetric difference to

really

look at what's behind those differences. "

The field, he explained, has been " intrigued by reports last year

that

suggest a model of autism could be premature development or unchecked

brain

growth leading to disorganized circuitry. The thinking was, synaptic

pruning

didn't occur, so that noise became predominant over signal itself. "

But Dager's study suggests gray matter development in autism

involves

the same volume as normal brains, but fewer neurons. " The convergence

of

evidence now seems to suggest a model in which gray matter abnormality

could

be inflammatory. T2 measures water molecules, and the findings here

suggest

there's more water in these kids' brains..., " Shih explained.

The differences in gray matter were found only in the brains of

autistic children, while both gray and white matter differences were

found

in the brains of children with learning delays. For children with

learning

delays, the findings suggest slowed neuronal development is to blame,

while

autistic children have a different kind of neuronal development

abnormality,

possibly induced by inflammation. Gray matter consists of the brain's

neurons, while white matter is the brain's wiring system.

Another important finding, that gray matter seems to be affected

differently in autism, supports earlier research. " There's evidence of

connectivity problems at older ages; in younger ages, it seems gray

matter

is problematic. Autism is a developmental problem and evolves as people

age, " he noted.

Autism affects up to one in every 175 school-age children,

according

to a recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

The government researchers also found that boys are nearly four

times

more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, and Hispanic

parents

were slightly less likely than non-Hispanic whites to report a child

with

autism, although this may be due to cultural or other factors,

including

access to medical care.

In the end, the findings only add another piece to the jigsaw

puzzle

that is autism, Dager said, adding, " We're no closer to a treatment. "

Other new research is also starting to unravel common beliefs

about

this disorder. In addition to social interaction problems, a study in

the

current issue of Child Neuropsychology found autism prevents different

parts

of the brain from working together. That makes complex tasks, such as

tying

shoelaces, much more difficult. The children studied were 8 to 15 years

old.

SOURCES: Dager, M.D., professor, radiology research,

Center on

Human Development and Disability, University of Washington School of

Medicine, Seattle; Shih, director, research and programs,

National

Alliance of Autism Research, Princeton, N.J,; Aug. 22, 2006, Neurology