In this review, we discuss the inflammation and oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of ASD, particularly focusing on maternal immune activation (MIA).

MIA is a one of the common environmental risk factors for the onset of ASD during pregnancy.

It induces an immune reaction in the pregnant mother’s body, resulting in further inflammation and oxidative stress in the placenta and fetal brain.

These negative factors cause neurodevelopmental impairments in the developing fetal brain and subsequently cause behavioral symptoms in the offspring.

"Both genetic and environmental factors, along with clinical and imaging features, argue toward a continnum between NDD (Neuro-Developmental Disorders) but also with adult psychiatric presentations.

"This new paradigm could modify the therapeutic strategy, with the development of large-spectrum treatments or new psychotherapies addressing co-occuring symptoms."

Key Facts:

1. The study found a substantial overlap in neurodivergence, with 76.2% of autistic children displaying traits of other neurotypes, including ADHD.
2. Over 55% of children assessed for autism might also meet the diagnostic threshold for ADHD, highlighting the necessity of holistic neurotype assessments.
3. Despite the clinical overlap, only 26% of children with additional traits were investigated for an underlying diagnosis, stressing the need for more comprehensive evaluation methods.

Source: University of Glasgow

Highlights

•There is a significant correlation between altitude and suicide mortality rate for U.S. veterans.

•The association between altitude and suicide deaths is higher than the association with suicide attempts or ideation.

•Controlling for relevant factors improves the correlation.

Our work suggested that geospatial factors such as altitude may be significant and should be included in suicide prediction models.

Future studies should incorporate altitude and other hypoxia-related variables into the suicide prediction models in order to further investigate how altitude and associated variables are related to suicide.

Results: The accumulating evidence from large studies and meta-analyses allows us to understand the role of CRP in major psychiatric disorders and increase our understanding of specific symptoms and subtypes of disorders.

CRP may be considered a 'psychiatric biomarker' which can alert clinicians about neuroinflammation, adverse effects of medications, cardiometabolic status, co-morbidities, and may also predict clinical outcomes and guide optimal treatment selection.

Based on what CRP itself is, there is an obvious link between this protein and inflammation. Because of this, high CRP levels are a concern as well, primarily because they can be an indicator of chronic inflammation. This is true especially if high CRP levels remain for long periods of time without receding.

Chronic inflammation can be incredibly harmful to the body. Why is this? Inflammation signals white blood cells to release “free radicals” into the body and kill harmful stimuli.

The problem with this is that the free radicals damage the surrounding areas of where a harmful stimuli might be, harming and even killing our cells. This process, when prolonged, greatly increases the risk for cancer cells to develop.

This type of research has discovered that chronic inflammation plays a role in the development of many different diseases and health conditions. Some of these include arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, lupus, neurodegeneration like Alzheimer’s, and even Parkinson’s disease. Recent research indicates it might even be linked to depression.

Unfortunately, there is still much more research to be done in regards to actually treating and preventing chronic inflammation, and in turn keeping CRP levels low. As it stands, Johns Hopkins Medicine states that treating chronic ailments, like high CRP levels,is a challenge.

Conclusion and relevance:Our results suggest sex-specific long-term effects in brain morphology after MIA [Maternal Immune Activation].

Categorical analyses suggest that this association might be driven by acute infections or or other sources of severe inflammation, which is of clinical relevance given that the COVID-19 pandemic is currently affecting millions of pregnant women worldwide. 

Cytokines and neurodevelopment

In the past several decades, inflammation has been increasingly recognized as an important contributor to central nervous system (CNS) injury in both the developing and adult brain.

The brain is particularly vulnerable in utero as well as during infancy and early childhood, and insults that occur during these critical periods have the potential to cause long-term damage.

Several neurodevelopmental disorders have been linked to early life immune activation and inflammation, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, cognitive impairment, and depression .