Altered Metabolism of Mothers of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Control Study

Abstract

Background: Previous research studies have demonstrated abnormalities in the metabolism of mothers of young children with autism.Method: Metabolic analysis was performed on blood samples from 30 mothers of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD-M) and from 29 mothers of young typically-developing children (TD-M). Targeted metabolic analysis focusing on the folate one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and the transsulfuration pathway (TS) as well as broad metabolic analysis were performed. Statistical analysis of the data involved both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.Results: Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in 5 metabolites from the folate one-carbon metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway and differences in an additional 48 metabolites identified by broad metabolic analysis, including lower levels of many carnitine-conjugated molecules. Multivariate analysis with leave one-out cross validation allowed classification of samples as belonging to one of the two groups with 93% sensitivity and 97% specificity with five metabolites. Furthermore, each of these five metabolites correlated with 8-15 other metabolites indicating that there are five clusters of correlated metabolites. In fact, all but 5 of the 50 metabolites with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were associated with the five identified groups. Many of the abnormalities appear linked to low levels of folate, vitamin B12, and carnitine-conjugated molecules.Conclusions: Mothers of children with ASD have many significantly different metabolite levels compared to mothers of typically developing children at 2-5 years after birth.

Evidence based recommendations for an optimal prenatal supplement for women in the US: vitamins and related nutrients

“…Conversely, if both B12 and folate were low, the risk of ASD was also increased (OR = 2.4). Another study of maternal blood levels at 2-5 years after birth found that mothers of children with ASD had 25% lower levels of vitamin B12 compared to mothers of typical children, p = 0.003; so, investigation of their B12 levels during pregnancy is warranted [72].…”