2023-09-30 00:44:40
The prevalence of many mental and behavioral disorders is steadily increasing, although it would seem that this should be prevented by the advent of modern medications. Among these illnesses are autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADH).ADHD), which are often detected in children.
The difficulty in their diagnosis and treatment is associated with multifactoriality, that is, development under the influence of a number of mechanisms. Doctors believe that such diseases arise due to the combined action of genetic and environmental factors, individual development, and so on.
The authors of the new articles for PLOS One The role of plasticizers in the pathogenesis of ASD and ADHD has been revealed. Plasticizers are widely used components of plastics that give the material the desired physical properties: elasticity or plasticity. The scientists looked at two commonly used substances from this group: bisphenol-A (BPA) and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP).
Naturally, plastic pollution found everywhere (including microplastics) also enters the human body. This is especially dangerous in the case of children, who continue to develop and are therefore more sensitive.
Plasticizers are eliminated from the body due to glucuronidation in the liver. During this process, insoluble compounds are converted into others – those that dissolve in water and are then excreted in the urine. It is known that due to individual genetic differences, glucuronidation can be more or less efficient. Preliminary evidence has shown that the process is involved in the development of neurological diseases in children.
The new study involved three groups of children: those diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, and healthy controls—66, 46, and 37 children, respectively. Urine samples were taken from each person, the composition of which was studied using mass spectrometry.
The authors assessed the functioning of 12 different metabolic pathways for glucuronidation, each of which carries out its own set of enzymes. It turned out that two of them differ markedly in children diagnosed with ASD or ADHD.
The efficiency of bisphenol A glucuronidation was significantly lower in children with ASD than in the control group (by 11 percent), and even more so with ADHD (by 17 percent). For DEHP, similar rates were observed, but they were not statistically significant.
Scientists have suggested that, despite the large differences in the metabolism and symptoms of ASD and ADHD, they may be united by a common development mechanism – the toxic effect of plasticizers. Indeed, their slow elimination inevitably means retention in the body.
However, it is not yet possible to say when the components of the plastic affected the brains of the sick – at the embryonic stage of development or following birth. This should be the subject of future research.
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