Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is accompanied by social deficits, repetitive and restricted interests, and altered brain development. The majority of ASD patients suffer not only from ASD itself but also from its neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Alterations in brain structure, synaptic development, and misregulation of neuroinflammation are considered risk factors for ASD and neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Electroencephalography has been developed to quantitatively explore effects of these neuronal changes of the brain in ASD. The pineal neurohormone melatonin is able to contribute to neural development. Also, this hormone has an inflammation-regulatory role and acts as a circadian key regulator to normalize sleep. These functions of melatonin may play crucial roles in the alleviation of ASD and its neuropsychiatric comorbidities. In this context, this article focuses on the presumable role of melatonin and suggests that this hormone could be a therapeutic agent for ASD and its related neuropsychiatric disorders.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social deficits, repetitive and restricted interests, and altered development of the brain [1]
Inflammatory cytokines were abundant in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ASD patients: macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-8 (IL-8), macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β), neutrophil activating peptide-2 (NAP-2), interferon-γ inducing protein-10 (IP-10), and angiogenin were increased in the CSF of ASD patients compared with the levels of these proteins in controls (Figure 1B) [8,42]
We provide a brief overview of analyses on resting EEG and event-related potential (ERP) in recent ASD researches
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social deficits, repetitive and restricted interests, and altered development of the brain [1]. The unusual structural development in the brain may occur with misregulation of neuroinflammation in patients with congenital neurodevelopmental problems, increasing the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. Sleep disturbance in Rett syndrome patients appears to be relieved by this hormone, making it useful for those with Rett syndrome [18] This hormone has been used for the treatment of sleep disorders in tuberous sclerosis [19]. Melatonin is expected to alleviate the neuroinflammation associated with ASD and to be therapeutically efficacious in the treatment of structural brain abnormalities and neuropsychiatric disorders. In this regard, this review article suggests that melatonin is a promising therapeutic agent for patients with ASD
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