Autism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Autism, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, effects.

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits in autism: an immunohistochemical investigation in the thalamus.

Ray MA, Graham AJ, Lee M, Perry RH, Court JA, Perry EK

Institute for Ageing and Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, MRC Building, Newcastle General Hospital, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6BE, UK. Melissa.Ray@ncl.ac.uk

The cholinergic system has been implicated in the development of autism on the basis of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) losses in cerebral and cerebellar cortex. In the present study, the first to explore nAChRs in the thalamus in autism, alpha4, alpha7 and beta2 nAChR subunit expression in thalamic nuclei of adult individuals with autism (n=3) and age-matched control cases (n=3) was investigated using immunochemical methods. Loss of alpha7- and beta2- (but not alpha4-) immunoreactive neurons occurred in the paraventricular nucleus (PV) and nucleus reuniens in autism. Preliminary results indicated glutamic acid decarboxylase immunoreactivity occurred at a low level in PV, co-expressed with alpha7 in normal and autistic cases and was not reduced in autism. This suggested loss of neuronal alpha7 in autism is not caused by loss of GABAergic neurons. These findings indicate nicotinic abnormalities that occur in the thalamus in autism which may contribute to sensory or attentional deficits.

Published 18 July 2005 in Neurobiol Dis, 19(3): 366-77.
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