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Atypical pupillary light reflexes (PLR) has been observed in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which suggests potential autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction in ASD. ANS is also involved in modulating sensory processing and sensory dysfunction has been widely reported in children with ASD. However, the potential association between physiological measurements of PLR and behavioral observations (e.g. sensory behaviors) has not been examined extensively in literature. In this study, we investigated the potential correlation between PLR and frequently observed sensory behaviors in children with ASD. We found a significant association between PLR constriction amplitude and a set of sensory behaviors in the ASD group but not in typically developing children. Children with ASD who showed more atypical sensory behaviors also had smaller PLR constriction amplitudes. A smaller PLR constriction amplitude suggests lower parasympathetic modulation. This observation implies that some atypical sensory behaviors in children with ASD could be associated with decreased parasympathetic modulation.

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Background/Aim: Ulcerative colitis (UC) has been implicated to imbalanced enteric flora and reduced microbial diversity. Stachyose is a kind of natural prebiotic which favorably modulate the composition of the gut microbiota. The present study aims to investigate the effects of stachyose on inflammatory levels and gut microbiota of acute colitis mice. Materials and Methods: In this study, the mice were randomly divided into four groups: (1) control group; (2) stachyose group; (3) dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) group; (4) stachyose + DSS group. Hemotoxylin and Eosin (H and E) staining was performed for the distal colon to examine the inflammation and tissue damage. The inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, IL-10, IL-17a, and TNF-α in serum were determined by ELISA assay. The differences in the gut microbiota were analyzed by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Results: Histological assay showed that the stachyose treatment significantly reduced the lesions of the colon in DSS-induced colitis. And the upregulated inflammatory cytokines induced by DSS were significantly inhibited by stachyose treatment. Additionally, the sequencing analysis showed that the stachyose changed the gut microbiota composition with a higher level of Akkermansia , as well as selectively increasing some probiotics, including Lactobacillus . Conclusions: Our results suggested that stachyose increased beneficial microbiota and bacterial diversity to alleviate acute colitis in mice, which might be a new promising option to UC patients.