Why Autism Frequently Suffered By Boys?
parenting.co.id
Recent studies began to reveal the mystery of why autism is four times more often experienced by boys than girls. Research shows that hormones testosterone and estrogen have opposite effects on gene called RORA. In nerve cells, testosterone would reduce the ability of cells to turn on gene expression or RORA. Conversely, estrogen will increase the ability of the cell.
“Autism is highly influenced by gender. The study found high levels of testosterone in the fetus at high risk of causing a child with autism,” said lead researcher Valerie Hu, an expert in biochemistry and molecular biology from George Washington University.
At normal size RORA task in the cell is turn other genes. When cells have high testosterone levels, RORA levels will decrease and will affect every gene that should be brought to life by RORA. This knowledge obtained from research on nerve cells grown in the laboratory. The study did not demonstrate that RORA low levels will lead to autism in addition to the link between these conditions.
Several studies have shown that deficiency RORA can explain various aspects of that seen in children with autism. For example, the gene is supposed to protect nerve cells from the effects of stress and inflammation. Stress and inflammation commonly encountered in the brains of children with autism.
Research also has shown that autistic child’s brain tissue containing RORA less than healthy children. RORA is also believed to help the body’s circadian rhythms. Therefore, children with autism often have sleep disorders. In contrast to testosterone, estrogen will increase the level of RORA in the cell. Indeed RORA not a single gene involved in autism incidence, but the role of RORA is very important.
