Bastaki Kholoud N, Alwan Sura, Zahir Farah R
Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Adv Neurobiol. 2020;24:143-162. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-30402-7_5.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a rapidly growing global pandemic that affects an estimated 1 in 59-68 children. It is a complex disease with both genetic and environmental etiologies. Due to the rapid increase in the incidence of ASD, environmental causes for ASD are gaining attention. Efforts to probe several environmental exposures that could contribute to causing ASD are underway. In this regard, this chapter is directed towards understanding prenatal exposure to key environmental factors i.e., drugs and dietary nutrients that may act via the same molecular pathway - epigenetics as a potential etiological factor for ASD. Epigenetic regulation is a molecular mechanism known to be a significant contributor to neurodevelopmental disorders. It also offers a means to explain how environmental exposures can impact genetics. We discuss the impact of maternal exposures to certain drugs, and dietary intake, on the developing fetus during pregnancy. Maternal Exposure to some drugs during gestation are associated with a higher risk of ASD, while exposure to other dietary compounds may offer promise to rescue epigenetic regulatory insults related to ASD. However, more work in this important area is still required, nevertheless preliminary research already has important implications in the understanding, prevention and treatment of ASD.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种在全球迅速蔓延的疾病，据估计每59至68名儿童中就有1人受其影响。它是一种具有遗传和环境病因的复杂疾病。由于ASD发病率迅速上升，其环境病因受到关注。目前正在努力探究可能导致ASD的几种环境暴露因素。在这方面，本章旨在了解产前暴露于关键环境因素，即药物和膳食营养素，它们可能通过相同的分子途径——表观遗传学，作为ASD的潜在病因。表观遗传调控是一种分子机制，已知是神经发育障碍的重要促成因素。它还提供了一种解释环境暴露如何影响遗传学的方法。我们讨论了孕期母亲接触某些药物和饮食摄入对发育中胎儿的影响。孕期母亲接触某些药物与患ASD的风险较高有关，而接触其他膳食化合物可能有望挽救与ASD相关的表观遗传调控损伤。然而，在这个重要领域仍需要更多的研究，尽管如此，初步研究已经对ASD的理解、预防和治疗具有重要意义。
