Estimation of autistic children by metallomics analysis

Clarification of the pathogenesis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders is one of the challenges today. In this study, we examine scalp hair concentrations of 26 trace elements for 1,967 children with autistic disorders (1,553males and 414 females). Five-hundred and eighty-four (29.7%), 347 (17.6%) and 114 (5.8%) subjects was found deficient in zinc, magnesium and calcium, respectively, and 2.0 % or less in the other essentialmetals. The incidence rate ofmineral deficiencywas highly observed in infants aged 0-3 year-old. In contrast, 339 (17.2%), 168 (8.5%) and 94 (4.8%) individuals was found suffering from high burden of aluminium, cadmium and lead, and 2.8 % or less from mercury and arsenic burden. These findings suggest that infantile zinc- andmagnesium-deficiency and/or toxic metal burdens may epigenetically play principal roles as environmental factors in autistic disorders and that metallomics approach may lead to early screening and prevention of the neurodevelopment disorders. A utism spectrum disorders are a group of neural development disorders characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and by the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviours1,2, and the prevalence of this disease continues to increase up to 1 in 88 children1–4. Autism spectrum disorders are known to be highly heritable (,90%), and some related genes have been reported5,6. However, the critica