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Environmental Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorders

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 3402

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Pharmacist, Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Honorary Director of the Autism Research Unit, University of Sunderland, UK. Past-President of World Autism Organisation, London, UK.

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are heterogenous neurodevelopmental pathologies characterized by social interaction and communication impairments, together with restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped interests and behavior. ASD result from a complex multifactorial combination of genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and immunological factors.

Many environmental factors that have epidemiological risk association with ASD exert their effects through epigenetic alterations.

We invite authors to contribute original research articles and review articles that will focus on novel findings on the molecular, biochemical, and cellular basis of autism spectrum disorders, with special emphasis on epigenetic regulation, immune dysfunction, and environment and pollution contribution to ASD development.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Recent insights into autism spectrum disorders research;
  • Identification of potential ASD risk factors;
  • Recent advances in environment contribution to ASD.

Prof. Dario Siniscalco
Prof. Paul Shattock
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • autism
  • environment
  • pollution

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 1442 KiB  
Article
Similarities between the Effects of Prenatal Chlorpyrifos and Valproic Acid on Ultrasonic Vocalization in Infant Wistar Rats
by Miguel Morales-Navas, Sergio Castaño-Castaño, Cristian Pérez-Fernández, Ainhoa Sánchez-Gil, María Teresa Colomina, Xavier Leinekugel and Fernando Sánchez-Santed
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(17), 6376; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176376 - 1 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2693
Abstract
Background: In recent years, ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in pups has become established as a good tool for evaluating behaviors related to communication deficits and emotional states observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Prenatal valproic acid (VPA) exposure leads to impairments and social behavior [...] Read more.
Background: In recent years, ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in pups has become established as a good tool for evaluating behaviors related to communication deficits and emotional states observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Prenatal valproic acid (VPA) exposure leads to impairments and social behavior deficits associated with autism, with the effects of VPA being considered as a reliable animal model of ASD. Some studies also suggest that prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF) could enhance autistic-like behaviors. Methods: In order to explore these similarities, in the present study we tested whether prenatal exposure to CPF at GD12.5–14.5 produces effects that are comparable to those produced by prenatal VPA exposure at GD12.5 in infant Wistar rats. Using Deep Squeek software, we evaluated total number of USVs, latency to the first call, mean call duration, principal frequency peak, high frequency peak, and type of calls. Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that exposure to both CPF and VPA leads to a significantly smaller number of calls along with a longer latency to produce the first call. No significant effects were found for the remaining dependent variables. Conclusions: These results suggest that prenatal exposure to CPF could produce certain behaviors that are reminiscent of those observed in ASD patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorders)
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