Pesko Matthew J, Burbige Eugene M, Sannar Elise M, Beresford Carol, Rogers Chris, Ariefdjohan Merlin, Stutzman Danielle
J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 2020;25(2):149-154. doi: 10.5863/1551-6776-25.2.149.
Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience high levels of irritability, which adversely affects their functioning and behaviors. N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antioxidant precursor to glutathione, has recently been studied for a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. There is growing evidence to support its use to decrease irritability and self-injurious behaviors in youth with ASD. However, previous studies were limited to outpatient youth with mild symptoms of irritability, maintained on stable medication regimens, who do not meet criteria for higher levels of care. We describe the use of NAC among 4 youths (14-17 years) with ASD who had Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability (ABC-I) scores of ≥ 20 and other psychotropic medication trials prior to treatment with NAC. In all of the cases, NAC appeared to be well tolerated. There was a reduction of symptoms of irritability and/or antipsychotic medication dosages in these cases; despite this, the authors cannot know whether use of NAC or other medication or behavioral strategies were responsible for such changes because this study was not a controlled trial.
患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童和青少年经常表现出高度易怒，这对他们的功能和行为产生不利影响。N-乙酰半胱氨酸（NAC）是谷胱甘肽的抗氧化前体，最近已针对多种神经精神疾病进行了研究。越来越多的证据支持将其用于减少患有ASD的青少年的易怒和自伤行为。然而，以前的研究仅限于患有轻度易怒症状的门诊青少年，他们维持稳定的药物治疗方案，不符合更高护理水平的标准。我们描述了4名年龄在14至17岁之间患有ASD的青少年使用NAC的情况，这些青少年在接受NAC治疗之前，异常行为检查表-易怒（ABC-I）得分≥20，并且曾进行过其他精神药物试验。在所有病例中，NAC似乎耐受性良好。这些病例中易怒症状和/或抗精神病药物剂量有所减少；尽管如此，作者无法确定是使用NAC还是其他药物或行为策略导致了这些变化，因为这项研究不是对照试验。
