ABSTRACT

Objectives

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a vital role in neurological development. As an easily accessible and non-invasive fluid, saliva hasn't been evaluated for nitrite among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to quantify saliva nitrite and explore its relation with serum NO.

Methods

Saliva sampling and pretreatment methods were optimized, followed by NO measurement via chemiluminescence for 126 ASD children and 129 normally developing children (ND).

Results

In the ASD group, saliva nitrite was significantly higher than that in the ND, with concentrations of 4.97 ± 3.77 μM and 2.66 ± 2.07 μM (p < 0.0001), respectively. Positive correlation was observed between saliva NO₂⁻ and serum NO₃⁻ in ASD children, which didn't exist in the ND group. Male children in the ASD group had significantly higher NO than that in boys of the ND group, without significant difference between girls in both groups. Correlation was not found between saliva or serum NO and severity of these ASD children.

Discussion

It is reported for the first time that saliva nitrite was positively correlated with serum nitrate in ASD children, with significantly higher NO only in autistic boys. Non-invasive saliva might serve as a predictor of health status of ASD children.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍男性儿童唾液亚硝酸盐含量较高且与血清硝酸盐呈正相关

摘要

目标

一氧化氮 (NO) 在神经系统发育中起着至关重要的作用。作为一种易于获取且非侵入性的液体，尚未对患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童的唾液中的亚硝酸盐进行评估。本研究旨在量化唾液亚硝酸盐并探讨其与血清 NO 的关系。

方法

优化唾液采样和预处理方法，然后通过化学发光对 126 名 ASD 儿童和 129 名正常发育儿童 (ND) 进行 NO 测量。

结果

在 ASD 组中，唾液亚硝酸盐显着高于 ND，浓度分别为 4.97 ± 3.77 μM 和 2.66 ± 2.07 μM ( p < 0.0001)。_{ASD患儿唾液NO 2} ^-与血清NO ₃ ^-呈正相关，而ND组不存在。ASD组男孩NO显着高于ND组男孩，两组女孩之间无显着差异。唾液或血清 NO 与这些 ASD 儿童的严重程度之间未发现相关性。

讨论

首次报道唾液亚硝酸盐与 ASD 儿童血清硝酸盐呈正相关，仅在自闭症男孩中 NO 显着升高。非侵入性唾液可作为 ASD 儿童健康状况的预测指标。