title: Decrease in 6R-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin content in cerebrospinal fluid of autistic patients.
abstract: The levels of pterin compounds in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ten neurologically normal and twenty autistic children were measured by two different liquid chromatographic systems, a conventional and a newly developed direct method. Among pterin compounds 7,8-dihydroneopterin (NH2) and 6R-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin (R-BH4) levels in autistic children were significantly reduced to 66.1 and 41.5%, respectively, of those found in the controls. The autistic children were divided into three subgroups according to their CSF homovanillic acid (HVA) level and age: the group with an elevated HVA level, the younger (< 7 year old) group with a normal HVA level, and the older (> 7 year old) group with a normal HVA level. In comparison, the further reduction was observed in NH2 and R-BH4 levels in the younger group and in the 7,8-dihydropterin (PH2) level in the group with an elevated HVA level. Thus, these results suggest that the endogenous biosynthesis of R-BH4 in the brain may be reduced in autistic children as compared with that in neurologically normal children.
authors.affiliation: Suntory Institute for Biomedical Research, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernell
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Långström
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D001708:Biopterins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019798:Neopterin
chemical_list: D001708:Biopterins; D019798:Neopterin; C003402:sapropterin; D006719:Homovanillic Acid