Autistic traits, autism spectrum conditions, and foetal testosterone

自闭症特征、自闭症谱系状况和胎儿睾酮

• 批准号: G0600977/1
• 负责人: Simon Baron-Cohen
• 金额: $ 120.27万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0600977%2F1
• 关键词: Autistic; traits; autism; spectrum; conditions

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect males far more often than females. This is likely to reflect the influence of hormones, genetics, diagnostic practice, or all three factors. This program grant tests the first of these by following up children whose mothers had amniocentesis, and where the amniotic fluid tesosterone levels are measured. It tests in both a small British Biobank (linked to 500 children) and in the much larger Danish Biobank (linked to 90,000 children) if foetal testosterone levels are elevated in children who later show more autistic traits, or who go on to receive a diagnosis of autism or Asperger Syndrome. In addition, since amniocentesis samples may not be representative of the general population, we test if foetal testosterone is correlated with newborn testosterone levels measured in blood spots collected at birth, and in saliva at 3 months, since ultimately such tests are less invasive, have less risk, and could be taken from every baby. We also measure neonatal testosterone levels in children later diagnosed with autism. Finally, we test a rare medical condition (AIS) in which males cannot bind foetal testosterone, to test the prediction that such males should have fewer autistic traits than typical males. The range of planned studies will help answer the question as to whether foetal testosterone increases the risk of autistic traits and ASC.

自闭症谱系条件（ASC）影响男性的频率远远高于女性。这可能反映了激素、遗传、诊断实践或所有三个因素的影响。该项目通过跟踪母亲进行羊膜穿刺术的孩子，并测量羊水睾酮水平，对其中的第一个进行测试。它在一个小型的英国生物样本库（与500名儿童有关）和规模大得多的丹麦生物样本库（与9万名儿童有关）中测试胎儿睾酮水平是否升高，这些儿童后来表现出更多的自闭症特征，或者后来被诊断为自闭症或阿斯伯格综合症。此外，由于羊膜穿刺术样本可能不能代表一般人群，我们测试了胎儿睾酮是否与出生时采集的血液斑点和3个月时的唾液中测量的新生儿睾酮水平相关，因为最终这些测试的侵入性较小，风险较小，并且可以从每个婴儿身上提取。我们还测量了后来被诊断为自闭症的儿童的新生儿睾丸激素水平。最后，我们测试了一种罕见的医学状况（AIS），在这种情况下，男性无法结合胎儿睾酮，以验证这种男性应该比典型男性具有更少的自闭症特征的预测。计划研究的范围将有助于回答胎儿睾酮是否会增加自闭症特征和ASC风险的问题。