Urinary oxidative stress markers in children with autism

Figures & data

Table 1. Clinical history of autistic and normal children taken for the study

Characteristics	Autistic children	Normal children
Number of children	45 (15 in each group)	45
CARS value (15–60)	LFA = 46–60; MFA = 31–45; HFA = 15–30	<10
Male/female ratio	36/9	36/9
Age in years (range)	4–12	4–12
Children with gluten sensitivity	LFA = 12/15; MFA = 10/15; HFA = 5/15	-NIL-
Economic status of the parents	High = 5; medium = 38; low = 2	High = 5; medium = 38; low = 2
Nutritional status of the children	Good = 2; better = 8; poor = 35	Good = 45
Children with special talents (dancing, humming, drawing, assembling jumbled picture)	LFA = 3/15; MFA = 7/15; HFA = 11/15	Normal
No. of children with low muscle tone	37/45	-NIL-
No. of children with ear infection	2/45	-NIL-
No. of children with sleep disturbance	23/45	-NIL-
No. of children on antibiotic treatment	None	-NIL-
No. of children with gastrointestinal problems	15/25	-NIL-
No. of parents given their cooperation	40/45	45
No. of parents appreciated the study	38/45	45

Figure 1. Level of 4-HNE in the urine of autistic children compared with age and sex-matched normal children. Results were expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.001 (control vs. LFA, MFA, and HFA).

Table 2. Level of lipid peroxides, lipid hydroperoxides, and PC in the urine of autistic children compared with age- and sex-matched normal children

Subject	Lipid peroxides mg/g creatinine	Lipid hydroperoxides mmol/g creatinine	Protein carbonyl mg/g protein
Control	34.17 ± 4.10	30.18 ± 3.62	30.79 ± 3.69
LFA	381.75 ± 45.81*	332.16 ± 39.85*	136.04 ± 16.32*
MFA	121.87 ± 14.62*	262.75 ± 31.53*	93.33 ± 11.19*
HFA	57.50 ± 6.90*^,a	68.16 ± 8.17*^,a	51.32 ± 6.15*^,a

Results were expressed as mean ± SD.

*P < 0.001 (control vs. LFA, MFA, and HFA); ^aP < 0.001 (LFA vs. HFA).

Table 3. Level of protein sulfhydryl, non-protein sulfhydryl, and total sulfhydryl groups in the urine of autistic children compared with age- and sex-matched normal children

Subject	Protein sulfhydryls	Non-protein sulfhydryl	Total sulfhydryl
	mg/dl	mg/dl	mg/dl
Control	28.8 ± 3.45	3.2 ± 0.38	32 ± 3.84
LFA	7.2 ± 0.86*	0.8 ± 0.09*	8 ± 0.96*
MFA	22.8 ± 2.73^@	1.2 ± 0.14*	24 ± 2.88^@
HFA	25.6 ± 3.07^#,a	2.4 ± 0.28^@,a	28 ± 3.36^#,a

Results were expressed as mean ± SD.

*P < 0.001 (control vs. LFA and MFA); ^@P < 0.01 (control vs. MFA & HFA); ^#P < 0.05 (control vs. HFA); ^aP < 0.001 (LFA vs. HFA).

Table 4. Level of TAC, total peroxides, and OSI in the urine of autistic children compared with age- and sex-matched normal children

Subject	TAC	Total peroxides	OSI
	mmol Trolox eq/l	mmol/l
Control	239.98 ± 26.39	47.70 ± 5.24	0.198 ± 0.02
LFA	24.56 ± 2.70*	398.60 ± 43.84*	16.22 ± 1.78*
MFA	140.01 ± 15.40*	315.35 ± 34.68*	2.25 ± 0.24*
HFA	220.12 ± 24.21^NS,a	81.83 ± 9.00*^,a	0.371 ± 0.04*^,a

Results were expressed as mean ± SD.

*P < 0.001 (control vs. LFA, MFA, and HFA); NS, non-significant (control vs. HFA); ^aP < 0.001 (LFA vs. HFA).

Table 5. Level of uric acid, creatinine, and UA/Cr ratio in the urine of autistic children compared with age- and sex-matched normal children

Subject	Uric acid (UA)	Creatinine (Cr)	UA/Cr ratio
	g/day	g/day
Control	0.62 ± 0.07	1.58 ± 0.18	0.39 ± 0.04
LFA	1.23 ± 0.14*	0.4 ± 0.04*	3.07 ± 0.36*
MFA	0.99 ± 0.11*	0.8 ± 0.09*	1.23 ± 0.14*
HFA	0.69 ± 0.08^#,a	1.2 ± 0.14^@,a	0.57 ± 0.06*^,a

Results were expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.001 (control vs. LFA, MFA, and HFA); ^@P < 0.01 (control vs. MFA and HFA); ^#P < 0.05 (control vs. HFA); ^aP < 0.001 (LFA vs. HFA).

Table 6. Spearman rank correlation between parameters vs. CARS

Parameters	rs	P value
TBARS vs. CARS	+1.000	<0.001
Lipid hydroperoxides vs. CARS	+0.984	<0.001
4-hydroxy nonenal vs. CARS	+0.963	<0.001
PC vs. CARS	+0.942	<0.001
Protein sulfhydryl vs. CARS	−0.826	<0.001
Non-protein sulfhydryl vs. CARS	−0.848	<0.001
Total sulfhydryl vs. CARS	−0.890	<0.001
TAC vs. CARS	−0.913	<0.001
Total peroxides vs. CARS	+0.958	<0.001
OSI vs. CARS	+0.963	<0.001
UA/Cr vs. CARS	+0.827	<0.001

Based on the critical values of the rank correlation (Spearman's rho) null hypothesis of no correlation was rejected and it was concluded that the aforementioned level of oxidative stress markers and antioxidants had correlation with the severity of autism.