Medscape had the full Rueter's article and the citation.
"...The study findings suggest that a malfunctioning enzyme in the intestine
may be to blame. This dysfunction may produce high levels of smaller protein
compounds called exorphins, which infiltrate the brain and cause
hallucinations and other disturbances.
"We now have proof positive that these proteins are getting into the blood
and proof positive that they're getting into the areas of the brain involved
with the symptoms of autism and schizophrenia," explained study lead author
Dr. J. Robert Cade of the University of Florida in Gainesville.
The findings are reported in two papers published in the March issue of the
journal Autism.
In their first study, the team report that the brains of rats injected with
one casein-related byproduct -- human beta-CM7 -- showed uptake of the
protein in neurological centers previously linked with autism and
schizophrenia. Affected areas included those influencing vision, hearing, and
communication.
In a statement from the University of Florida, Cade said these findings
"could explain several things one sees in autism and schizophrenia, such as
hallucinations. If part of the brain puts out a false signal because of
(beta-CM7), it could result in the person seeing something that's not really
there; either a visual or auditory hallucination could occur."
In healthy humans, casein breakdown results in only minimal production of
beta-CM7 and other exorphins. Cade speculates that this process may be
impaired in schizophrenic and autistic individuals. Indeed, the preliminary
results of his team's current studies in autistic and schizophrenic children
suggest that these children have up to 100 times the normal level of milk
proteins in blood and urine. The researchers also found that the
schizophrenic or autistic symptoms of about 80% of these children fade or
disappear after they are switched to milk-free diets.
The connection between autism, schizophrenia and milk proteins was supported
by the results of the second report published in the journal. In that study,
Cade and co-author Dr. Zhongjie Sun found that intravenous administration of
beta-CM7 produced "remarkable" behavioral changes in rats.
These behavioral changes ranged from restlessness "with teeth chattering and
with rapid respiration" about a minute after administration, to inactivity as
well as avoidance of other animals within about 7 minutes of injection,
according to the authors. The rats were also oblivious to a bell ringing in
near proximity following beta-CM7 administration. Cade said "this struck us
as interesting because many mothers of autistic children comment that they
sometimes seem to be totally deaf -- they talk to their children and they
just don't seem to hear them."
Cade cautioned that more research is needed to confirm these findings.
Commenting on the studies, Dr. Bennett Leventhal of the University of Chicago
School of Medicine, noted that schizophrenia and autism are "distinctly
different disorders" with complex origins. "It is certainly possible that
these (digestive) genetic abnormalities could lead to the metabolic effects
Dr. Cade mentions," he explained in a statement, "though there is not
substantial support for that at this time."
SOURCE: Autism 1999;3:67-83, 85-95.f This is the March issue of the journal.
Mardrey Swenson IBCLC
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