EMBARGO LIFTED at 04:00 AEDT Fri 06 Dec, 2013
Using a mouse model, US researchers have linked neurodevelopmental symptoms similar to those seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients to changes seen in the bacteria in the animals’ guts. The researchers then treated those animals with bacteria found in a healthy gut, and found a number of behavioural abnormalities, including anxiety-like behaviour, largely disappeared – identifying a potential probiotic therapy for humans with similar symptoms. Below, Australian experts respond.
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Professor Andrew Whitehouse is Head of the Developmental Disorders Research Group at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Western Australia
“The link between maternal inflammation and autism on one hand, and between gut problems and autism on the other, has long been suspected. The achievement of this study is that they have started to put these two pieces of the puzzle together. The researchers used mice and showed that mothers who had inflammation during pregnancy had offspring that had gut problems and displayed behaviours similar to autism. Importantly, when the researchers gave the offspring an oral dose of ‘normal bacteria’ – that is, bacteria that a normal gut usually contains – the behavioural symptoms of autism disappeared.
This is an exciting study that provides preliminary evidence for a potential causal pathway that has long been suspected. The big note of caution is that this has only been examined in mice. It is a long way up the evolutionary chain from a mouse to a human, and what is true for a mouse may be quite different for a human. This study challenges researchers to move quickly into this very exciting research area.”
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Dr Manya Angley is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia
“Recently the role for an altered gut microbiota in behavioural disorders has been investigated, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Various studies show that specific bacteria and by-products are altered in ASD. However, it is not clear whether these changes play a causative role or are a consequence of the condition.
This study by Hsiao et al. demonstrated that when maternal immune activation (MIA) mouse models (a model used for ASD) were given oral doses of Bacteroides fragilis, gut abnormalities, microbial differences and, importantly, behaviour were improved. There have been four studies examining the effects of probiotics in children with ASD but none have shown an improvement in ASD-related behaviours, most likely because the probiotics investigated were not targeted. Hsiao et al.’s study is an important finding as it identifies a specific probiotic with positive outcomes on ASD-related behaviour in mice and will inform future human studies. Identification of targeted interventions in ASD are currently lacking because the causes of ASD are complex and poorly understood. Current therapeutic interventions only treat symptoms rather than address the causes of ASD. Therefore any steps towards identifying targeted interventions hold promise for improving the health and quality of life of Australians with ASD.”
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Dr Cheryl Dissanayake is Director of the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre at La Trobe University
“These findings are of great interest and very relevant for the subgroup of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) who also have gastrointestinal problems, a symptom that can be associated with ASD. These complex neurodevelopmental disorders can be associated with many other conditions, and it’s of particular interest that the anxiety-like behaviour was reduced in the treated mice. We are currently researching anxiety and sleep in fly and mouse models which leads me to wonder what the sleep cycles were like in these experimental mice.
Of concern of course is that findings like these will fuel advocates of diet therapies for ASD, for which there is still no evidence-base. Thus, careful reporting of these results is very important.”
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Clinical Associate Professor Helen Leonard is Head of Child Disability Research at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Western Australia
“Whether children with autism are more susceptible to gastro-intestinal problems has long been an area of interest with conflicting findings in the literature. More recently there has been emerging interest is the role of the microbiome – the ecological community of organisms which share our body space – in health and disease states and in particular its relationship with neurodevelopmental disorders. Using a mouse model the results in this article provide some evidence to suggest that the microbiome may indeed influence brain development and behaviour, and suggest that strategies that favourably influence the gut bacteria could play some role in neurodevelopmental disorders. At this stage there is a need for further research to further explore this possibility.”
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*Microbiota Modulate Behavioral and Physiological Abnormalities Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Hsiao, E. et al., Cell, (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.024 (please note this link won’t work until after the embargo lifts)