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AUTISM THE GLUTAMATE HYPOTHESIS

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Brain regions - Areas of Interest. Glutamate and Serotonin ... Kanner echolalia, difficulties with pronouns, repetitious behaviour ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: AUTISM THE GLUTAMATE HYPOTHESIS


1
AUTISM THE GLUTAMATE HYPOTHESIS
  • PSY346H
  • Elizabeth Vanatoru
  • Std. no. 991560271

2
OVERVIEW
  • Autism
  • Glutamate
  • Brain regions - Areas of Interest
  • Glutamate and Serotonin
  • Glutamate receptor agonists, Transmission,
    Serotonin antagonist
  • Autism and Schizophrenia
  • Hypoglutamatergic Theory of Autism Why is it
    attractive?
  • Future Research Directions - Treatment

3
AUTISM
  • Pervasive Developmental Disorder
  • Wings triad impaired sociability, communication
    and imagination
  • Kanner echolalia, difficulties with pronouns,
    repetitious behaviour
  • Aspergers syndrome high functioning autism

4
Differences between Autism and Aspergers
  • Individuals with autism live in a world of their
    own (Happe Frith, 1996)
  • Individuals with Aspergers live in our world in
    their own way (Kugler, 1998)

5
ContdTHE DOMINO EFFECT IN AUTISM
  • From
  • Heightened perception of stimuli sensory
    overstimulation reactive withdrawal social
    isolation sensory deprivation
  • To
  • defective social skills, language skills and
    stereotyped behaviour

6
GLUTAMATE
  • Main excitatory NT in CNS
  • Role in cognitive and Pathological processes
  • Glutamate Receptors Metabotropic and ionotropic
    (NMDA, AMPA, kainate)
  • Excitotoxin damage

7
EXCITATORY AMINO ACID PATHWAYS
8
BRAIN REGIONS- AREAS OF INTEREST
  • Limbic System Amygdala and Hippocampus
  • Cerebellum
  • Cortical Areas Frontal, Prefrontal and Parietal
    Cortex

9
GLUTAMATE AND SEROTONIN
  • Glutamate receptor antagonist
  • increased 5-HT receptor mediated transmission
  • 5-HT receptor stimulation
  • decreased glutamatergic transmission

10
AUTISM AND SCHIZOPHRENIA
  • Both display frontal and temporal brain areas
    abnormalities
  • Both distorted perception of stimuli
  • Time frame factor differences
  • Hallucinations and paranoid delusions in
    schizophrenia
  • No production of hallucinations in autism
  • Social interaction experience (schizophrenia)

11
IN SUPPORT OF THE HYPOGLUTAMATERGIC THEORY OF
AUTISM
  • Heritability
  • IQ and seizures
  • Evidence from neuroanatomical studies
  • and symptoms produced by glutamate antagonists
    in healthy subjects
  • Animal models

12
More on the Hypoglutamatergic Theory of Autism
  • Susceptibility loci in autism
  • Evidence from genome scans
  • GluR6 Linkage Disequilibrium Autism
  • Post mortem brain abnormalities

13
Glutamate Receptor Autoradiography
14
WHY IS GLUTAMATE HYPOTHESIS ATTRACTIVE?
  • Glutamate involved in brain development
  • Glutamate high concentrations in cerebellum and
    hippocampus
  • Abnormalities in glutamate transmission
  • Glutamate receptor antagonists
  • Blocking glutamate receptors
  • Role of glutamate work in progress

15
FUTURE DIRECTIONS TREATMENT
  • Glutamate agonist treatment ?
  • Ketamine Anesthesia
  • Ampakines
  • 5-HT Receptor antagonists
  • Further neurochemical research
  • Animal models
  • Behaviour Therapy

16
END OF PRESENTATION
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