Bacteria in the Gut of Children with Autism Different from Typically Developing Children
自闭儿童的肠道细菌与正常孩子的差异
January 12, 2012
By Autism Society
The underlying reason autism is often associated with gastrointestinal problems is an unknown, but new results reveal that the guts of children with autism differ from other children in at least one important way: many children with autism harbor a type of bacteria in their guts that typically developing children do not. The study was conducted by Brent Williams and colleagues at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
自闭症和肠道消化问题的潜在原因目前大家还不知道，但是最新的研究结果显示自闭儿童的内脏器官与其他儿童至少有一个重要不同：很多自闭症儿童在肠道里面有一种细菌，而正常儿童则没有。这个研究是由哥伦比亚大学 Mailman School of Public Health 的Brent Wiliams及其同事提供。
Earlier work has revealed that autistic individuals with gastrointestinal symptoms often exhibit inflammation and other abnormalities in their upper and lower intestinal tracts. However, scientists do not know what causes the inflammation or how the condition relates to the developmental disorders that characterize autism. The research results appearing in mBio® indicate the communities of microorganisms that reside in the gut of autistic children with gastrointestinal problems are different than the communities of non-autistic children. Whether or not these differences are a cause or effect of autism remains to be seen.
"The relationship between different microorganisms and the host and the outcomes for disease and development is an exciting issue," says Christine A. Biron, the Brintzenhoff Professor of Medical Science at Brown University and editor of the study. "This paper is important because it starts to advance the question of how the resident microbes interact with a disorder that is poorly understood."
布朗大学的Brintzenhoff教授，学术刊物编辑，Christin A.Biron说：“不同的微生物 ，宿主以及疾病和发展问题之间的关系是个令人兴奋的课题，这篇文档的重要之处就在于它提出并促使我们去解决一个问题，我们对人体寄生微生物和自闭症之间的相互作用了解还是很少。“
Bacteria belonging to the group Sutterella represented a relatively large proportion of the microorganisms found in 12 of 23 tissue samples from the guts of autistic children, but these organisms were not detected in any samples from non-autistic children. Why this organism is present only in autistic kids with gastrointestinal problems and not in unaffected kids is unclear.
"Sutterella has been associated with gastrointestinal diseases below the diaphragm, and whether it's a pathogen or not is still not clear," explains Jorge Benach, Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at Stony Brook University and a reviewer of the report. "It is not a very well-known bacterium."
In children with autism, digestive problems can be quite serious and can contribute to behavioral problems, making it difficult for doctors and therapists to help their patients. Autism, itself, is poorly understood, but the frequent linkage between this set of developmental disorders and problems in the gut is even less so.
在自闭儿童 身上消化问题是非常严重的，可以导致行为问题，让医生和治疗专家帮助他们的父母变得非常困难。我们对自闭症本身的了解非常有限，对发展失常这类问题与肠道之间的惯常联系更是了解的有限。
Benach says the study was uniquely powerful because they used tissue samples from the guts of patients. "Most work that has been done linking the gut microbiome with autism has been done with stool samples," says Benach, but the microorganisms shed in stool don't necessarily represent the microbes that line the intestinal wall. "What may show up in a stool sample may be different from what is directly attached to the tissue," he says.
Tissue biopsy samples require surgery to acquire and represent a difficult process for the patient, facts that underscore the seriousness of the gastrointestinal problems many autistic children and their families must cope with.
组织切片样本需要使用外科手术获取， 对病人而言是个困难的过程，肠胃问题是很多自闭症儿童和他们的家庭的严重的现实，需要他们必须配合。
Benach emphasizes that the study is statistically powerful, but future work is needed to determine what role Sutterella plays, if any, in the problems in the gut. "It is an observation that needs to be followed through," says Benach.
Benach强调目前的研究足够满意，未来的工作就是确定Sutterella在肠胃中扮演什么角色，他说：”这需要坚持不懈的观察“。 作者: thankstoyilin 时间: 2012-1-20 16:45 标题: re:存疑一下。Autism Society是... 存疑一下。Autism Society是个草根组织（参见网站About Us中的明确表述：The Autism Society, the nation’s leading grassroots autism organization），因此文章的学术严谨性应存疑。