Is birth a critical period in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders?
Abstract
Birth is associated with a neuroprotective, oxytocin-mediated abrupt excitatory-to-inhibitory GABA shift that is abolished in autism, and its restoration attenuates the disorder in offspring. In this Opinion article, I discuss the links between birth-related stressful mechanisms, persistent excitatory GABA actions, perturbed network oscillations and autism. I propose that birth (parturition) is a critical period that confirms, attenuates or aggravates the deleterious effects of intrauterine genetic or environmental insults.
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During later circuit development, after neurons become excitable and synapses begin forming, negative-feedback autoregulation becomes prominent.
“In later stages of circuit development, when neurons have gained excitability and synapse formation has begun, autoregulation by negative feedback is prominent (Ben-Ari, 2015; Feller, 2004; Hensch, 2005; Rosenberg and Spitzer, 2011; Turrigiano and Nelson, 2004).”
From Unifying Views of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Consideration of Autoregulatory Feedback Loops (2016) · cites this paper as Ben-Ari, 2015
The perinatal period represents one of the first developmental milestones in the assembly of cortical circuits.
“The perinatal period therefore represents one of the first developmental milestones in the assembly of cortical circuits 31 .”
From Developmental timing and critical windows for the treatment of psychiatric disorders (2016) · cites this paper as [31]
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Bumetanide for autism: more eye contact, less amygdala activation
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- Authors
- Ben-Ari, Y.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Neuroscience
- Published
- 2015-07-08
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 498-505
- ISSN
- 1471-003X (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0048
- OpenAlex
- W1536900838
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 1.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature reviews. Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-14-CE13-0021)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, births, childbirth, oxytocin, GABAergic neurotransmission, neuroprotection, stress, network oscillations, brain development
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Humans, Parturition
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