MOLECULAR AND CYTOGENETIC ANALYSES OF AUTISM IN TAIWAN

Karyotypic and DNA analyses were both performed on 104 autistic childr en referred from Taichung Autism Education Academy and Tainan Autism A ssociation in Taiwan. The frequency of fragile sites of the autistic p atients did not differ significantly from that of the normal individua ls. Of the 12 autistic children with chromosomal abnormalities, 8 had the fragile X, 2 had Down syndrome, and the remaining had other aneupl oid constitutions. The results of this study illustrate the contributi on of chromosomal abnormalities or variants to the pathogenesis of inf antile autism.