Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Department of Comparative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Ann Neurol. 2018 Oct;84(4):611-615. doi: 10.1002/ana.25314. Epub 2018 Sep 26.
Autism is a brain disorder characterized by social impairments. Progress in understanding autism has been hindered by difficulty in obtaining brain-relevant tissues (eg, cerebrospinal fluid [CSF]) by which to identify markers of disease and targets for treatment. Here, we overcome this barrier by providing evidence that mean CSF concentration of the "social" neuropeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) is lower in children with autism versus controls. CSF AVP concentration also significantly differentiates individual cases from controls and is associated with greater social symptom severity in children with autism. These findings indicate that AVP may be a promising CSF marker of autism's social deficits. Ann Neurol 2018;84:611-615.
自闭症是一种以社交障碍为特征的脑部疾病。由于难以获得与大脑相关的组织（如脑脊液[CSF]），因此难以确定疾病的标志物和治疗靶点，这阻碍了对自闭症的理解。在这里，我们通过提供证据表明自闭症儿童的平均脑脊液（CSF）浓度低于对照组，从而克服了这一障碍。CSF 血管加压素（AVP）浓度也能显著区分个体病例与对照组，并与自闭症儿童的社交症状严重程度相关。这些发现表明，AVP 可能是自闭症社交缺陷的一个有前途的 CSF 标志物。《神经病学年鉴》2018 年；84:611-615.
