“…Six studies have shown that measures of plasma NE are elevated in ASD (Cook, 1990; Israngkun, Newman, & Patel, 1986; Lake, Ziegler, & Murphy, 1977; Launay et al, 1987; Leboyer et al, 1994; Leventhal, Cook, Morford, Ravitz, & Freedman, 1990); two other studies yielded null results (Herault et al, 1994; Martineau et al, 1994). These findings of elevated NE were initially dismissed as a byproduct of heightened acute stress response to venipuncture in children with ASD (Cook, 1990; Minderaa, Anderson, Volkmar, Akkerhuis, & Cohen, 1994), and subsequent studies designed to address this issue used time-averaged measures of NE-release (which are not affected by acute stress).…”