益生菌治疗孤独症谱系障碍的展望

Prospect on the potential role of probiotics in treatment of autism spectrum disorders

孤独症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种严重的发育障碍性疾病,至今以康复教育治疗为主。近年来研究发现,ASD儿童常伴有胃肠道症状,可能与菌群失衡和微生物-肠-脑轴有关。动物实验和临床观察表明,肠道菌群失衡可以导致ASD肠上皮细胞损害、黏膜免疫和神经递质等发生改变,出现一系列胃肠道症状和异常行为,而用益生菌治疗ASD既可缓解其胃肠道症状,也可改善部分行为问题。虽然尚需要更严谨的临床和基础实验对益生菌治疗ASD的疗效、机制等展开研究,但可以认为,益生菌在治疗ASD上有值得期待的潜在作用。

Autism spectrum disorder （ASD）is a severe neurodevelopmental disease. At the present time, approved and recommended treatments for ASD are mainly based on rehabilitation and educational interventions. ASD is defined by core behavioural impairments, but gastrointestinal （GI） symptoms are commonly reported. And the GI symptoms are considered to relate to the dysbiosis of gut microbiota and a disorder of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. The alterations of epithelial integrity, immune function and neurotransmitter lead to GI symptoms and autistic behaviors associated with dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Probiotics can be useful to restore the microbiota balance in the intestine, to alleviate GI symptoms and ameliorate behavioural symptoms associated with some ASD. Although further research and rigorous clinical trial should be required to study the effect and mechanism of probiotics in the treatment of ASD, they can be considered potential effect on ASD.