(c) Idaho State University
Idaho State UniversityのMichael Thomas准教授
過去30年の自閉症の増加に，飲料水に含まれる微量の向精神薬が関わっているかもしれない。向精神薬は，利水システムの中で微量に混入することが認められている。そのような環境中にみられる程度の濃度で向精神薬を含む水に，魚を曝露した。すると，神経学的発達に関連する遺伝子が，人間の自閉症の場合と類似した発現パターンを示し，不安を示唆するような行動も見られた。検討された薬剤には，フルオキセチンなど，臨床での使用開始が自閉症の急激な増加時期と重なるものもあった。発達中の胎児の脳には，母親が飲んだ水に含まれる薬剤が到達しやすいという。しかし，この結果を発表した研究者は，因果関係についてまだ結論は出せないと述べている。（吉田素子）
Idaho State University Researchers Make Discovery about Potential Causes of Autism
A team of Idaho State University researchers have discovered that fish show autism-like gene expression after exposure to water containing psychoactive pharmaceuticals, according to research published June 6 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
The results may suggest an environmental trigger for autism, although this finding may only apply to genetically predisposed individuals.
"The psychoactive pharmaceuticals were tested at concentrations similar to those found in aquatic systems," said Michael Thomas, ISU associate professor of biological sciences and the lead researcher in the project. "This discovery implies that these drugs might be involved in the increase in autism in the past 30 years."
Thomas said that although these findings are significant, it is too early to draw firm conclusions about the study.
"We've really proposed a new question, but not any new answers," he said. "But asking a new question is the first step towards learning something new, and in many ways, it's the most important step. It is our hope that this new question will useful for the autism research community, and eventually lead to fruitful new answers. It is important to remember that much more research on this topic is needed – it's not time to draw any conclusions, yet."
The team discovered that certain psychoactive pharmaceuticals induced gene expression patterns in a fish model that mimic expression patterns in humans with autism. The gene expression patterns are associated with neurological development and growth.
［単語和訳］
Researchers：研究者 Autism：自閉症
-like：～的な gene expression：遺伝子発現 exposure：曝露 psychoactive pharmaceuticals：向精神薬 according to：～によると open access：オープンアクセスの PLoS ONE：（Public Library of Scienceの発行するオンライン科学ジャーナルの名称）
environmental trigger：環境要因 genetically predisposed：ある疾患に遺伝的に罹りやすい
aquatic systems：利水システム associate professor：准教授 biological sciences：生物科学 lead researcher：研究主任 implies：～を示唆する
too~to...：…するにはあまりにも～すぎる
in many ways：いろいろな意味で It is our hope that：（that以下のこと）を望んでいる lead to：～をもたらす fruitful：有意義な
induced：～を誘発した model：（実験のための動物）モデル mimic：～によく似た are associated with：～と関連している neurological：神経学的
