Zinc in Gut-Brain Interaction in Autism and Neurological Disorders

Figure 4

Prevention and treatment strategies. Zinc amino acid complexes might be an effective source to overcome the negative effects of dietary constituents and nutrients in prenatal supplements and help women to maintain adequate zinc status (prenatal prevention, left panel). Zinc supplementation might also be useful in young children with ASD helping to overcome some impairments associated with acute zinc deficiency (diarrhea, impaired immune function, and neurosensory deficits) (postnatal treatment, right panel). Furthermore, young children with ASD might benefit from probiotic therapy that may correct gut permeability, alter microbial composition, reduce burden of bacterial waste products and metabolites, and thereby ameliorate ASD symptoms. Additionally, a gluten and milk protein-free diet was proposed to potentially be beneficial for individuals with ASD. 5-HT signaling may mediate both innate and adaptive responses in the immune system and 5-HT signaling important in the brain and in the GI tract; 5-HT receptors are expressed. Thus, 5-HT3 antagonists or 5-HT4 agonists may have a modulatory effect. Moreover, therapeutics used to treat inflammatory events caused by abnormal GI function (anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating therapies) might be beneficial. Stress is linked to abnormalities in the GI tract and mediated by, among others, the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system on molecular level. The use of CRF receptor antagonists might therefore provide new treatment approaches.