Serum Glutamate in Children with Autismand Other Disorders of Psycho-Speech Development
Purpose. To determine the level of glutamate in the blood serum of children with autism and children with impaired psycho-verbal development due to organic brain damage, and to compare it with the clinical manifestations of diseases. Materials and methods. Clinical and psychological diagnostics of patients of the main group (children with autism) - 60 people, comparison group (children with impaired psycho-verbal development due to organic damage of the central nervous system) - 72 patients, and control group - 20 practically healthy children was carried out. Children between the age of 3 and 12 years were examined. The degree of autism was determined with CARS. Also, some symptoms and signs of impaired psycho-speech development in children were scored and divided into blocks: block 1 - complications of pregnancy and birth defects, block 2 - behavioral disorders, block 3 - communication disorders, block 4 - motor skills disorders, block 5 - speech impairment, block 6 - feeding disorders, block 7 - speech-understanding problems, block 8 - stereotyped behavior, block 9 - self-care skills impairment. As a result, the scores for each block and the total score according to the results of all 9 blocks for each examined child were calculated. Determination of glutamate in blood serum was carried out with enzymatic spectrophotometric method using the kits from Sigma- Aldrich MAK004 (USA). Results. Both in autism and disorders of psycho-verbal development associated with organic brain damage (comparison group), the level of glutamate was significantly increased if compared to controls. The mean serum glutamate levels in children with autism and the comparison group were comparable. The frequency of deviations from the norm (greater than the 95th percentile of the control group) was 42.1% in the group with autism, and 34.2% in the comparison group. There was no correlation between glutamate levels and CARS score, as well as individual and total scores for the analyzed blocks (9 blocks). The results are consistent with those obtained in literature, since almost all authors find an increase of glutamate levels in the brain and/or blood serum of children with autism or with ASD, but they do not find a correlation with CARS scores. There is also information in the literature about the increase of the level of glutamate in the blood of patients with various psycho-neurological disorders.Conclusion. The obtained results indicate that elevated serum glutamate levels are often found in children with impaired psycho-verbal development of various genesis, both in autism and in organic brain damage.