Urine Nitric Oxide Is Lower in Parents of Autistic Children

Bibliographic Data

ID15517834
AuthorsLulu Yao (Hubei University of Technology), Kun Cai (0000-0002-4321-133X, Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Fanghua Mei (Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Xiaohua Wang (0000-0002-3504-691X), Xiao‐hua Wang (0000-0001-8444-9478, Beijing Normal University), Chuangang Fan (0000-0001-6012-1267, Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Hong Jiang (0000-0002-9299-5484, Lishui Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital), Fang Xie (0009-0003-8071-1004), Xie Fang (0000-0002-6021-0865, Lishui Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital), Ying Li (0000-0003-0678-9535, Lishui Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital), Lu Bai (0000-0001-5191-2315, Hubei University of Technology), Kang Peng (0000-0002-2144-4204, Hubei University of Technology), Wenwen Deng (0000-0002-3674-1180, Hubei University of Technology), Shenghan Lai (0000-0003-1340-9609, Johns Hopkins Medicine), Jun Wang (0000-0003-4485-7201, Hubei University of Technology, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume12
Pages607191-607191
Publication date2021-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2021.607191
PMID34093255
OpenAlexW3165297694
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited57

Parents raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually carry on their daily life under tremendous stress, but limited empirical research has been devoted to this population. It is known that parents' health status directly impacts therapeutic outcome of ASD children. As an important regulator in cardiovascular, nervous and immune systems, nitric oxide (NO) levels haven't been reported in parents of ASD children yet. In this study, we measured urine nitrite and nitrate from 43 ASD parents (ASD-P), and 43 healthy adults in the same range of age (Control) who didn't have any ASD descendants. Comparison between the ASD-P and Control groups showed that NO 2 - , NO 3 - , and NO 2 - / NO 3 - were all significantly lower in the ASD-P group. Analysis on the interaction effect of sex and group indicated that urine NO 3 - of mothers in ASD-P was lower than that in females of the Control group, but no significant difference was observed between males in both groups. It is for the first time that urine nitric oxide metabolites (nitrite, nitrate) levels were precisely reported to differentiate parents of autistic children from other adults without ASD descendants. This phenomenon suggests that parents (especially mothers) of autistic children might have experienced more mental and physical stressors, which led to decreased NO levels during metabolism. Further investigations are necessary to uncover the etiology of low urine NO among parents of autistic children

Algorithm · Machine learning · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Computer Science · Family and Disability Support Research · Infant Development and Preterm Care · Artificial Intelligence

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