Serotonin Signal Transduction in Two Groups of Autistic Patients

摘要

The most significant findings during the period of this project were the discovery that lymphoblasts from autistic subjects could be used to determine overall neurotransmitter responsiveness. We had predicted that cells from autistic subjects would sort out, particularly in the arena of serotonin sensitivity, from those cells obtained from autistic subjects with normal serum serotonin. This was not the case, as the sequellae of events following serotonin binding to 5HT1, 5HT2 or 5HT4,7 receptors was identical in cells from the high and low serotonin autistic subjects. However, particularly for 5HT1 signaling, both autistic groups handily separated from the control. Thus, it appears that we have developed a cultured cell system that is both easy to manipulate and useful for studying serotonin signaling in autism.