|
|
NEW $9 MILLION CENTER AT UC DAVIS TO STUDY ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT ON AUTISM FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (SACRAMENTO,
Calif.) --The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Schools of Medicine and
Veterinary Medicine, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
will jointly establish a research center that will, for the first time, study
the possible role that environmental contaminants, such as pesticides,
polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) and heavy metals, play in the development of
autism. The
UC Davis Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention
Research is being created under a $5 million, five-year grant from the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The M.I.N.D. Institute and UC Davis
are providing another $4 million in funds over the next five years. "A
child's nervous and immune systems undergo immense remodeling during the first
two years of life," said Isaac Pessah, professor of molecular biosciences
at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and principal investigator for
the new research center. "Environmental exposure to mercury, pesticides
and other contaminants during early childhood development could easily alter
the normal function of a child's systems. If we find they do, we can then
develop rational strategies for treatment and we can work towards preventing
exposure to those poisons." David
G. Amaral, a neuroscientist in the School of Medicine who specializes in the
study of brain function in autism and is co-principal investigator of the
center agrees. "This center is possible due to the unique expertise and
resources located at UC Davis. The center's faculty includes eminent
researchers in the areas of environmental toxicology, neurodevelopmental
disorders, immunology, epidemiology and Superfund initiatives. We have a
rapidly growing clinic and autism database at the M.I.N.D. Institute and
extensive capabilities on campus in foreign-substance analysis in the blood,
cell and molecular biomarker research and animal modeling. This
multidisciplinary collaboration will be the catalyst for generating answers
about what does and what doesn't cause autism," Amaral said. The
NIEHS grant marks the eighth such center in the United States but the first to
specifically look at severe impairments of social behavior as a casualty of
ubiquitous pesticides, pcbs and mercury in the environment. The center will
conduct the first-ever environmental epidemiological case-controlled study of
2,000 children and launch research projects on the molecular and immunological
mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders and on the influence
neurotoxins may have on children's health and social behavior. With
the nation having significantly addressed the problems with lead exposure,
NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden said, "we want to see what other
environmental substances might trigger developmental problems so that we can
reduce the exposures and prevent the damage." Autism
is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social impairment, language
deficit and repetitive behavior. To date, autism research has largely been
focused on finding the gene or genes that cause the disorder or make some
children more susceptible. Suspicion is growing among researchers and parents
that a child's contact with environmental chemicals, whether mercury in
vaccinations and food, or pesticides on the ground, provides the final push for
individuals genetically predisposed for autism. "We
know that there is a genetic susceptibility to autism, but many genes, perhaps
10 to 20, appear to be involved," said Amaral, who is also research
director at the M.I.N.D. Institute. "However, there is also substantial
suspicion that a 'second hit' is necessary for children to develop full-blown
autism. There has been some suggestion that an environmental toxin such as
mercury could push a child's developing nervous system over the edge into
autism." The
first project the center will undertake is a comprehensive environmental
epidemiological study of 2,000 California children between 2 and 5 years of
age. The study group will include 600 normal children, 700 children with mental
retardation but without autism, and 700 children with autism but not mental
retardation. Environmental epidemiologist Irva Hertz-Picciotto, recently
recruited to UC Davis School of Medicine from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, will lead this project. Clinicians
will measure the children's cognitive and social skills, take family histories
as well as histories of exposure to environmental toxins, and obtain blood and
other biological samples. In addition to the M.I.N.D. Institute's community
outreach program, UCLA clinicians in the Department of Psychiatry and
Biobehavioral Sciences will assist in the evaluations to include a
geographically diverse group of urban, rural and minority children. "This
study will be the first major epidemiological case-controlled study to examine
autism in relation to a broad array of environmental exposures and endogenous
susceptibility factors," Amaral said. The
second project will determine the impact of different toxins on a portion of
the brain called the amygdala, which is thought to be involved in controlling
social behavior. Led by Amaral and in collaboration with Robert Berman of the
UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery, the project will measure
particular social behaviors in monkeys before and after exposure to mercury and
thimerosal, which have been widely used in vaccines, and to certain pcbs and
pesticides that are commonly found on the ground and in foods such as fish. The
exposure levels will be similar to the levels children have experienced. "This
study will provide us with ways to measure and assess social behavior and
determine the extent to which environmental toxins can disrupt it," said
Amaral. The
project includes developing a battery of behavioral tasks that can provide
appropriate assessments of normal mouse and rhesus monkey social behavior.
These behaviors will focus on common impairments autistic children suffer,
including an apathy for social involvement, an inability to recognize their
mothers' facial expressions and a lack of fear of strangers. The
third project will be led by Pessah, whose research specialty is on the impact
that environmental chemicals have on the brain's signaling functions. He will
use blood samples from the 2,000 children assessed in the center's first
project to compare and contrast immune responses to vaccine antigens among the
three groups. "We
will carry out the first comprehensive analysis anywhere of the blood levels of
toxins, such as mercury, pesticides and pcbs, in children with autism, compared
to children without the disorder," Pessah said. The
study also will look at the impact of exposures on the brain's ability to send
signals and on cell growth in the nervous system, as well as identify the
underlying biochemical process. For instance, mercury is known to have an
adverse effect on the immune system. This project will look at mercury in terms
of its impact on the nervous system. Other
key researchers who will lead the center's projects will be Robert Berman, Eric
Gershwin, Jeff Gregg, Paul Hagerman, Robin Hansen and Judy Van de Water from
the School of Medicine; Bruce German, Fumio Matsumura and Bruce Hammock from
the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The
new Children's Environmental Health Center builds upon the expertise of
established programs at UC Davis, including:
Editor's
Note: Video News Release via satellite contains B-roll and SOT: Thursday, Oct.
25, 2001, at 1 pm - 1:15pm PDT VNR
also available by contacting UC Davis Health System Public Affairs at (916)
734-9040. Copies
of all news releases from UC Davis Health System are available on the Web at MEDIA
CONTACT: Martha Alcott, Medical News
Office: (916) 734-9027 |
