Advanced pharmacotherapy evidenced by pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder.
In clinical practice, pharmacological treatment is mostly focused on behavioral symptoms in everyday life. Nevertheless, persistent effort continues to develop medication for causal treatment. Recent changes in diagnostic criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) to DSM-5 would affect not only diagnosing approaches, but also therapeutic approaches. Because previous pervasive developmental disorders have been integrated into a single entity, the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we have to prepare for what medications are valuable for the ASD. In this article, we reviewed the following etiological treatment: acetylcholine and glutamate related medicine; amino acid medicine such as secretin, endogenous opioid, and oxytocin; complementary and alternative medicine such as chelating agents, vitamins, and omega-3; promising drugs related to the scope of pharmacogenetics currently under study.
Department of Psychiatry, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Yeon Jung
YJ
Lee
Department of Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Soo Hyun
SH
Oh
Department of Psychiatry, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chanmin
C
Park
Department of Psychiatry, Dankook University Medical College, Chungnam, Korea.
Minha
M
Hong
Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Ah Rah
AR
Lee
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
Hee Jeong
HJ
Yoo
Department of Pharmacology, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chan Young
CY
Shin
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Keun-Ah
KA
Cheon
Department of Psychiatry, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Geon Ho
GH
Bahn
Child development disorders, pervasive; Drug therapy; Etiology