ArticleTranslational psychiatry2021
Region-specific elevations of glutamate + glutamine correlate with the sensory symptoms of autism spectrum disorders.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurometabolite differences in Autism as assessed with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- High-dose Vitamin-B6 reduces sensory over-responsivity.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Exploratory evidence for differences in GABAergic regulation of auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Sensory Reactivity in Autism: Integrating Behavioural, Affective, Physiological, and Neural Dimensions.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Distinct sensory atypicalities bridge the gap between brain chemistry and motor dysfunction in autism.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sensory hyperacusis as a predictor of anxiety in adolescence.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Qualitative EEG abnormalities in ASD reflect inhibition-dominated brain dynamics.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Beta power as a neural correlate of sensory features in autistic individuals.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2026Article
- A cascading effects model of early sensory development in autism.Psychological review · 2026Review
- Unraveling mGluR5 dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder: a multi-level analysis of genetic, molecular, and neurobiological mechanisms.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- A neuropsychological perspective on sensory hypersensitivity after acquired brain injury.Brain communications · 2026Review
- The Vitamin D-Gut-Brain Axis in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Bidirectional Crosstalk.International journal of general medicine · 2026Review
- Cortical markers of excitation/inhibition balance are associated with sensory responsivity from infancy in longitudinal cohorts enriched for autism and ADHD.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Astragaloside IV ameliorates autism-like behaviors in BTBR mice by modulating Camk2n2-dependent OXPHOS and neurotransmission in the mPFC.Journal of advanced research · 2025Article
- Excitatory/Inhibitory balance in autism spectrum disorders: Integrating genetic, neurotransmitter and computational perspectives.AIMS neuroscience · 2025Review
- Brain glutathione and GABA+ levels in autistic children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2024Article
- Could Sensory Differences Be a Sex-Indifferent Biomarker of Autism? Early Investigation Comparing Tactile Sensitivity Between Autistic Males and Females.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2024Article
- Heterogeneity and convergence across seven neuroimaging modalities: a review of the autism spectrum disorder literature.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Assessing Trial-to-Trial Variability in Auditory ERPs in Autism and Schizophrenia.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Article
- Relationships between GABA, glutamate, and GABA/glutamate and social and olfactory processing in children with autism spectrum disorder.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Individuals on the autism spectrum are often reported as being hyper- and/or hyporeactive to sensory input. These sensory symptoms were one of the key observations that led to the development of the altered excitation-inhibition (E-I) model of autism, which posits that an increase ratio of excitatory to inhibitory signaling may explain certain phenotypical expressions of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). While there has been strong support for the altered E-I model of autism, much of the evidence has come from animal models. With regard to in-vivo human studies, evidence for altered E-I balance in ASD come from studies adopting magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Spectral-edited MRS can be used to provide measures of the levels of GABA + (GABA + macromolecules) and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) in specific brain regions as proxy markers of inhibition and excitation respectively. In the current study, we found region-specific elevations of Glx in the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) in ASD. There were no group differences of GABA+ in either the SM1 or thalamus. Higher levels of Glx were associated with more parent reported difficulties of sensory hyper- and hyporeactivity, as well as reduced feed-forward inhibition during tactile perception in children with ASD. Critically, the finding of elevated Glx provides strong empirical support for increased excitation in ASD. Our results also provide a clear link between Glx and the sensory symptoms of ASD at both behavioral and perceptual levels.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.