Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are the most common disabling disorders in childhood and
are characterized by social difficulties, stereotyped behavior, narrow interests and
paresthesia. In recent years, the prevalence of ASD has been increasing year by year, and
the latest epidemiology in the United States shows that the prevalence of ASD is 1/44.
The previous multi-center epidemiological survey of ASD in children in China showed that
the prevalence of ASD in children aged 6-12 in China was about 0.7%, and the lifetime
medical and non-medical expenses of ASD patients ranged from $1.4 million to $2.4
million. The survey showed that the disease burden of ASD in children aged 0-6 in Guizhou
Province was between 60,000 and 80,000 yuan/year/person. ASD has become a major public
health problem affecting children's health due to its high prevalence rate, disability
rate and heavy disease burden, which has brought huge economic and social burden to
families and society of children with ASD. At present, ASD has been listed as the leading
disabling disease among mental diseases, bringing serious burden to families and society,
and ASD has become a major public health problem affecting children's health.
At present, there are no specific drugs to improve the core symptoms of ASD, and
education and behavioral therapy are mainly focused on early intervention to obtain the
best results. Although effective behavioral interventions can significantly improve the
core symptoms of children with ASD, a significant proportion of children with ASD still
have residual functional disabilities. Therefore, the research and development of new
treatment methods for children with ASD has become a hot and difficult problem. Children
with ASD are prone to multiple nutrients due to poor eating habits, gastrointestinal
symptoms and food allergies, and the addition of key nutrients is expected to become one
of the important adjuvant treatments for children with ASD. The project team established
a national children's ASD multi-center research cohort and built a children's ASD biobank
under the financial support of the National Health Commission. A case-control (117:119)
study using 1H-NMR metabolomics to detect urine samples of children with ASD showed lower
taurine levels in the ASD group compared to the healthy control group. In recent years,
taurine deficiency has been linked to neurological disorders or symptoms such as
neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, epilepsy, and diabetic neuropathy. In addition,
animal and clinical experiments have found that taurine supplementation has certain
therapeutic effects on neurological diseases including Angelman behavior sign, fragile X
behavior sign, sleep-wake disorder, stroke, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tic
disorder, and taurine supplementation can improve anxiety symptoms and cognitive ability
of mice. In previous animal intervention experiment, taurine supplementation on the basis
of VPA autism model in rats during pregnancy was found to improve ASD-like behavior in
offspring. However, there is a lack of population-based evidence in children with ASD.
Taurine is widely distributed in brain, spinal cord, heart, muscle cells and retina, and
is one of the more abundant amino acids in almost all tissues and organs. A large number
of studies have shown that taurine can protect a variety of tissues and organs from
oxidative stress damage. Taurine can also ameliorate cognitive impairment in a variety of
physiological and pathological conditions through a variety of mechanisms, including
reducing neuroinflammation, up-regulating Nrf2 expression and antioxidant capacity,
activating Akt/CREB/PGC1α signaling pathway to further enhance mitochondrial
biosynthesis, synaptic function, and reducing oxidative stress. A large number of studies
have shown that compared with healthy controls, the blood levels of oxidative stress
markers in children with ASD are reduced or increased to varying degrees, and are thought
to be related to the formation of stereotypical behaviors of ASD. Whether taurine can
improve the core symptoms of ASD by reducing oxidative stress damage remains unclear, and
human studies are needed to further clarify the mechanism of action and verify the
findings of animal experiments.
In summary, taurine deficiency is closely related to the onset of neurodevelopmental
disorders, and dietary supplementation may have a certain therapeutic effect. This study
is based on this starting point to propose the basis of project. This study intends to
conduct an exploratory randomized, double-blind controlled trial to compare and analyze
the effect of taurine supplementation on the improvement of core symptoms in ASD children
who were treated with routine behavioral rehabilitation combined with taurine supplement
(experimental group) and behavioral rehabilitation combined with placebo (control group)
for 3 months and continued follow-up for 12 months. The possible mechanism of action was
investigated by detecting intestinal symptoms, intestinal flora, markers of oxidative
stress and clinical symptoms of ASD. The aim of this study is to explore an effective and
reliable adjuvant therapy for children with ASD. To investigate the curative effect of
taurine supplementation on the core symptoms of children with ASD spectrum disorder. To
observe the incidence of adverse reactions of taurine supplementation, evaluate the
clinical application value of taurine supplementation, and provide theoretical support
for further tests.