Researchers from the Environmental Influences on Infant Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program found that certain characteristics of infants’ gut microbiomes are associated with higher scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2), a questionnaire that measures traits related to the childhood autism.
Specifically, certain bacteria and their functional genes, particularly those related to the production of short-chain fatty acids, were linked to autism-related traits. These associations varied between sex and age groups.
In order to understand the potential likelihood of autism-related traits through the lens of the gut-brain axis opens new avenues for targeted interventions in the early years of life, researchers studied 481 samples from 304 healthy children participating from two research sites. study from the ECHO cohort in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Children were between 6 weeks and 2 years old when they provided stool samples and between 3 and 19 years old when social traits were assessed.
The researchers compared groups of participants from two different study sites, focusing on their gut microbiomes when they were younger and on social traits related to ASD later in life.
Both study sites that contributed to this analysis had previously sequenced bacterial DNA from fecal samples collected from infants or young children. They calculated the frequency of certain bacteria in each sample and related that information to the participants’ social behavior scores.
Source: EUROPA PRESS