Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Low parental melatonin levels increases autism spectrum disorder risk in children

Wiebe Braam, Friederike Ehrhart, Chris T. Evelo, Anneke P.H.M. Maas, Marcel G. Smits, Leopold Curfs
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/046722
Wiebe Braam
1‘s Heeren Loo, Department Advisium, Wekerom, The Netherlands
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Friederike Ehrhart
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
3Department of Bioinformatics-BiGCat, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Chris T. Evelo
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
3Department of Bioinformatics-BiGCat, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Anneke P.H.M. Maas
1‘s Heeren Loo, Department Advisium, Wekerom, The Netherlands
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
4Department of Special Education, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Marcel G. Smits
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
5Multidisciplinary expert centre for sleep-wake disturbances and chronobiology, Gelderse Vallei Hospital, Ede, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Leopold Curfs
2Governor Kremers Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Low melatonin levels are a frequent finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. Melatonin is important for normal neurodevelopment and embryonic growth and highly effective in protecting DNA from oxidative damage. Melatonin deficiency, possibly due to low CYP1A2 activity, could be an etiologic factor. As the fetus does not produce melatonin, low maternal melatonin levels should be involved. We measured 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in urine of 60 mothers of a child with ASD that attended our sleep clinic for people with an intellectual disability (ID), and asked for coffee consumption habits, as these are known to be related to CYP1A2 activity. 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin levels were significantly lower in mothers than in controls (p = 0.005), as well as evening coffee consumption (p = 0.034).

ASD
Autism spectrum disorder
ID
intellectual disability
6-SM
6–sulfatoxymelatonin
Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted July 08, 2016.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Low parental melatonin levels increases autism spectrum disorder risk in children
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Low parental melatonin levels increases autism spectrum disorder risk in children
Wiebe Braam, Friederike Ehrhart, Chris T. Evelo, Anneke P.H.M. Maas, Marcel G. Smits, Leopold Curfs
bioRxiv 046722; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/046722
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Low parental melatonin levels increases autism spectrum disorder risk in children
Wiebe Braam, Friederike Ehrhart, Chris T. Evelo, Anneke P.H.M. Maas, Marcel G. Smits, Leopold Curfs
bioRxiv 046722; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/046722

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (2543)
  • Biochemistry (4992)
  • Bioengineering (3495)
  • Bioinformatics (15277)
  • Biophysics (6923)
  • Cancer Biology (5420)
  • Cell Biology (7766)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (4553)
  • Ecology (7179)
  • Epidemiology (2059)
  • Evolutionary Biology (10257)
  • Genetics (7528)
  • Genomics (9823)
  • Immunology (4894)
  • Microbiology (13290)
  • Molecular Biology (5163)
  • Neuroscience (29562)
  • Paleontology (203)
  • Pathology (842)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (1470)
  • Physiology (2151)
  • Plant Biology (4776)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1015)
  • Synthetic Biology (1341)
  • Systems Biology (4021)
  • Zoology (770)