Skip to main content

Brain's 'Spaces' Hold Clues to Origins of Autism

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 4, 2024.

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 4, 2024 -- The fluid-filled spaces around the brain's blood vessels need proper waste "clearance" every few hours. When that fails to happen, a baby's risk for autism appears to rise, new research shows.

It's too early to say that trouble within these "perivascular" spaces causes autism, but it seems to be an early marker for the condition, a team from the University of North Carolina (UNC) reports.

“Our findings were striking, given that neuro-radiologists typically view enlarged perivascular spaces as a sign of neuro-degeneration in adults, but this study reported it in toddlers,” noted study co-author Dea Garic, a research assistant professor in UNC's department of psychiatry.

“This is an important aspect of brain development in the first years of life that should be monitored," Garic added in a university news release.

The findings were published recently in the journal JAMA Network Open.

According to Autism Speaks, about 1 in every 36 U.S. children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism's exact origins remain unclear, and a better understanding of the condition could lead to better prevention and treatment.

In the new study, the UNC team focused on perivascular spaces within the brain.

Because toxins called amyloid plaques (linked to Alzheimer's disease) can build up within these fluid-filled areas, they've long been a target of research in older adults.

Garic and study co-author Mark Shen wondered if they might also play a role in brain health very early in the life span.

As the researchers explained, every six hours cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pulses through perivascular spaces in the brain, flushing out inflammatory and other waste products that could otherwise hamper brain activity. That waste includes amyloid beta.

This brain-cleansing process is especially active during sleep. And, given that autism and sleep issues often arise together, the UNC team wondered if perivascular spaces might explain why.

From studies in animals and older adults, they already knew that poor sleep can trigger an unhealthy enlargement of perivascular spaces.

Would the same hold true in small kids? To find out, the investigators looked at 870 brain MRIs taken of sleeping children at six, 12 and 24 months of age. These babies were all the younger siblings of kids with autism -- meaning they were already at higher risk of developing the condition.

Their brain MRIs showed a correlation between enlarged perivascular spaces and a later autism diagnosis, the researchers reported.

Kids with enlarged perivascular spaces in their brains before the age of 24 months were 2.2 times more likely to be diagnosed later with autism, compared to kids whose MRIs showed normal-sized perivascular spaces.

Overall, 30% of kids who displayed large perivascular spaces when they were a year old went on to get an autism diagnosis, and nearly half of children later diagnosed with autism displayed enlarged spaces on their MRIs by the age of 2.

Enlarged perivascular spaces in infancy were also strongly linked with sleep disorders seven to 10 years later, the UNC team found.

“These results suggest that perivascular spaces could serve as an early marker for autism,” said Garic, who is also a member of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities.

“It was really striking to observe such a strong association separated by such a long period of time over childhood," she added. "But it really shows how perivascular spaces not only have an effect early in life, but they can have long term effects, too.”

A "clogging" of cerebrospinal fluid within perivascular spaces early in life could have major consequences on the developing brain, Garic and Shen believe and they plan further research into this issue. They believe it could play a role in other conditions, such as Fragile X syndrome or Down syndrome.

“Collectively our research has shown that CSF abnormalities in the first year of life could have downstream effects on a variety of outcomes, including later autism diagnosis, sleep problems, neuro-inflammation and possibly other developmental disabilities,” said Shen, who is an assistant professor of psychiatry at UNC.

Sources

  • University of North Carolina, news release, Jan. 3, 2023

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Trump Says RFK Jr. Free to Revisit Discredited Autism/Vaccine Link

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 -- If Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is approved to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he will be free to revisit a long-debunked link between...

Dolphins Are Testing Positive for Fentanyl

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 -- Most Americans understand how deeply the dangerous opioid fentanyl has permeated the illicit drug market. Now, it's even infiltrated the bodies of Gulf of...

Long COVID Is Taking Toll on Americans' Finances

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 -- Long COVID is placing a financial strain on many Americans, a new study reports. People with Long COVID have a harder time paying their bills, buying...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.