Journal
BIOMARKERS
Volume 16, Issue 3, Pages 252-260Publisher
INFORMA HEALTHCARE
DOI: 10.3109/1354750X.2010.548010
Keywords
Clostridium; cotinine; gut flora; organic contaminants; pervasive developmental disorders
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Funding
- Italian Ministry for University, Scientific Research and Technology [2006058195, 2008BACT54_002]
- Italian Ministry of Health [RFPS-2007-5-640174]
- Autism Speaks Foundation (Princeton, NJ)
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Several studies have described in autistic patients an overgrowth of unusual gut bacterial strains, able to push the fermentation of tyrosine up to the formation of p-cresol. We compared levels of urinary p-cresol, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet, in 59 matched case-control pairs. Urinary p-cresol was significantly elevated in autistic children smaller than 8 years of age (p < 0.01), typically females (p < 0.05), and more severely affected regardless of sex (p < 0.05). Urinary cotinine measurements excluded smoking-related hydrocarbon contaminations as contributors to these differences. Hence, elevated urinary p-cresol may serve as a biomarker of autism liability in small children, especially females and more severely affected males.
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