Study Confirms Mitochondrial Deficits In Children With Autism
Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 12:20
in Health & Medicine
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Children with autism experience deficits in a type of immune cell that protects the body from infection. Called granulocytes, the cells exhibit one-third the capacity to fight infection and protect the body from invasion compared with the same cells in children who are developing normally. The cells, which circulate in the bloodstream, are less able to deliver crucial infection-fighting oxidative responses to combat invading pathogens because of dysfunction in their tiny energy-generating organelles, the mitochondria. The study is published online in the journal Pediatrics. read more