Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:1797-1801
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
Difference between plasma N- and C-terminally directed beta-endorphin immunoreactivity in infantile autism
M Leboyer, MP Bouvard, C Recasens, A Philippe, M Guilloud-Bataille, D Bondoux, F Tabuteau, M Dugas, J Panksepp and JM Launay
Hopital Robert Debre, Universite de Paris VII, France.
OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated whether there is excessive opioid
activity in infantile autism by measuring plasma beta-endorphin in patients
with autism compared with patients who had Rett's syndrome and normal
comparison subjects. METHODS: Radioimmunoassays for beta- endorphin using
C-terminally and N-terminally directed antisera were applied to plasma
samples from 67 children who met both DSM-III-R and ICD-10 diagnostic
criteria for infantile autism, 22 girls with Rett's syndrome, and 67 normal
children matched in age and sex with the children with autism. RESULTS:
Median N-terminally directed beta- endorphin immunoreactivity appeared to
be slightly lower in subjects with autism (7 pg/ml) and clearly higher in
the girls with Rett's syndrome (40 pg/ml) than in the comparison subjects
(9 pg/ml). Median C- terminally directed beta-endorphin immunoreactivity
was higher in the girls with Rett's syndrome (35 pg/ml) and much higher in
patients with autism (70 pg/ml) than in comparison subjects (8 pg/ml).
CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the existence of a wide discrepancy
between C- and N-terminally directed beta-endorphin immunoreactivity among
children with autism. Despite the fact that the nature of the antigen
recognized in the plasma of autistic children by the C-terminally directed
anti-beta-endorphin serum remains to be characterized, the difference
between C- and N-terminally directed beta-endorphin immunoreactivity might
suggest an abnormal processing of the pro- opiomelanocortin gene in
infantile autism.
