Investigation of the serum levels of anterior pituitary hormones in male children with autism.
BACKGROUND
The neurobiological basis of autism remains poorly understood. The diagnosis of autism is based solely on behavioural characteristics because there are currently no reliable biological markers. To test whether the anterior pituitary hormones and cortisol could be useful as biological markers for autism, we assessed the basal serum levels of these hormones in subjects with autism and normal controls.


RESULTS
Using a suspension array system, we determined the serum levels of six anterior pituitary hormones, including adrenocorticotropic hormone and growth hormone, in 32 drug-naive subjects (aged 6 to 18 years, all boys) with autism, and 34 healthy controls matched for age and gender. We also determined cortisol levels in these subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, growth hormone and cortisol were significantly higher in subjects with autism than in controls. In addition, there was a significantly positive correlation between cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels in autism.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that increased basal serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone accompanied by increased cortisol and growth hormone may be useful biological markers for autism.
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Keiko
K
Iwata
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Hideo
H
Matsuzaki
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Taishi
T
Miyachi
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Chie
C
Shimmura
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Shiro
S
Suda
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Kenji J
KJ
Tsuchiya
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Kaori
K
Matsumoto
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Katsuaki
K
Suzuki
Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Yasuhide
Y
Iwata
Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Kazuhiko
K
Nakamura
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.|Faculty of Contemporary Sociology, Chukyo University, Toyota, Japan.
Masatsugu
M
Tsujii
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Toshirou
T
Sugiyama
Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Kohji
K
Sato
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.|Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Norio
N
Mori