Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Abstract

Aluminium and Other Metals May Pose a Risk to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Biochemical and Behavioural Impairments

Luana Melendez*,Diana dos Santos,Luna Polido,Mariel Lopes Mendes,Silvia Sella,Luiz Querino Caldas,Emmanoel Silva-Filho

Recentstudies have shown that some toxic metals have been associated with neurological diseases. Thebinding and transportof these metals in the blood may occur by species of High Molecular Mass (HMM) and Low Molecular Weight Species (LMM)of proteins. These mainspecies are known to be responsible for aluminum transporting is the case of transferrin and citrate.It seems that autisticchildren may havea genetic predisposition to accumulate large amounts of metalsas it is has been proposed. This study seeksto understand the toxic mechanism of selected metals inautistic children and its correlationwith the psycho-metabolic implications ofthe syndrome. Preliminary results have indicated that some metals such as chromium, arsenic and particularly aluminum were elevated in the blood of an autistic child, as compared to reference values of a normal child. A case-control study is under investigation. Furthermore, the consequences of the disease, as such the difficultiesin socialization and language skill disabilities may also be related to the burden of toxic metals in general, particularly aluminum.