Having an infection during pregnancy is tied to a small increase in the chances of having an autistic child, but the connection may not be causal.

This month’s newsletter explores the pandemic’s effects on autism rates, trends in co-occurring mental health conditions, and the impact of intranasal oxytocin.

Parents’ health, treatment dosages and sensory perception feature in this month’s crop of null and replicated results.

Targeting the molecule, 4EPS, with an experimental drug may be a way to ease anxiety for autistic people, the researchers say. But not everyone is convinced.

Infection during pregnancy can tweak a mouse’s gut microbiome in ways that have lasting effects on her pups’ immune system and increase their chances of gut inflammation, a new study suggests.

Researchers put hundreds of gut bacteria strains through their paces to chart the compounds each creates — and to help others explore the flora’s potential contribution to autism.

Deleting CHD8 from the intestines induces gastrointestinal and behavioral changes in mice that resemble traits in people with mutations in the gene.

Autistic children are up to four times as likely as their non-autistic peers to have digestive problems, and several small studies show they may also have atypical microbial communities living in their guts.

Children with autism may have a subtly different set of bacteria in their gut than their non-autistic siblings do.

Mutations in a top autism gene called SYNGAP1 slow the rate at which zebrafish digest food and pass waste, and may also disrupt gut function in people.