CATECHOLAMINERGIC METABOLISM AND AUTISM

The authors determined levels of dopamine (DA) and its derivatives hom ovanillic acid (HVA), 3-4 dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), 3 methox ytyramine and norepinephrine + epinephrine (NE + E) in the urine, and DA, E and NE in the whole blood of 50 autistic children aged between 1 year 11 months and 16 years. An association was tested for between ma rkers coding for the enzymes and D3 dopaminergic receptor genes implic ated in the monoaminergic pathway and autism, using restriction fragme nt-length polymorphism. There were significant modifications of catech olamine metabolites, but no difference for allele frequencies of the g enes coding for tyrosine hydroxylase, dopamine beta hydroxylase and DR D3 in this population compared with a healthy school population matche d for chronological age. However, some of the data encourage a more co mplete study of chromosome 11.