From parental age to infection during pregnancy, environmental elements can influence autism risk.
Scientists can rattle off lists of dozens of genes linked to autism, but there’s much less agreement about which elements of the environment contribute to the condition — and by how much.
Early disruption of the microbes that inhabit the gut can alter a mouse’s sociability long term.
The combination of prenatal stress and a preterm labor drug may elicit seizures and autism-like behaviors in rat pups.
Prairie vole pups exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine in the womb show autism-like behaviors and lose some receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin.
Infants born prematurely show alterations in the structure and function of their brain circuits — findings that may help explain their increased risk for autism.
The environment’s influence on gene expression can vary by sex and affect autism’s expression.
The pups of male mice exposed to stress show a muted response to stressful situations of their own, suggesting that environmental effects can last generations.
Pregnant mice exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine have pups with autism-like behavioral impairments.
An immune molecule that helps defend people from infection with viruses or bacteria may also keep brain activity in check, allowing people to be social.
Women who have lupus are roughly twice as likely as women without an immune disorder to have a child with autism.
