TY - JOUR
T1 - Cholesterol, GM1, and autism
AU - Schengrund, Cara Lynne
AU - Ali-Rahmani, Fatima
AU - Ramer, Jeanette C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This work was supported, in part, under a grant with the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Health Research Formula Funding Program (State of PA, Act 2001-77-PA Tobacco Settlement Legislation). The Department specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations, or conclusions. Partial financial support for
Funding Information:
this project was also provided by the Thrasher Research Fund (grant # 02823-0).
Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - Disruption of cholesterol metabolism has been hypothesized to contribute to dementia, possibly due to its role in maintaining membrane fluidity as well as the integrity of lipid rafts. Previously, we reported an apparent inverse relationship between membrane cholesterol levels and those of GM1, another lipid that can be found in rafts. This paper describes the observation that red blood cell (RBC) membranes isolated from blood drawn from children diagnosed with autism have on the average significantly less cholesterol and significantly more GM1 than RBC membranes isolated from blood obtained from control children. While cholesterol in the circulation does not cross the blood brain barrier, a generalized defect in its synthesis could affect its concentration in the central nervous system and that, coupled with a change in ganglioside expression, could contribute to development of the behaviors associated with autism.
AB - Disruption of cholesterol metabolism has been hypothesized to contribute to dementia, possibly due to its role in maintaining membrane fluidity as well as the integrity of lipid rafts. Previously, we reported an apparent inverse relationship between membrane cholesterol levels and those of GM1, another lipid that can be found in rafts. This paper describes the observation that red blood cell (RBC) membranes isolated from blood drawn from children diagnosed with autism have on the average significantly less cholesterol and significantly more GM1 than RBC membranes isolated from blood obtained from control children. While cholesterol in the circulation does not cross the blood brain barrier, a generalized defect in its synthesis could affect its concentration in the central nervous system and that, coupled with a change in ganglioside expression, could contribute to development of the behaviors associated with autism.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11064-011-0697-6
DO - 10.1007/s11064-011-0697-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 22252726
AN - SCOPUS:84862842524
SN - 0364-3190
VL - 37
SP - 1201
EP - 1207
JO - Neurochemical Research
JF - Neurochemical Research
IS - 6
ER -