Leaky Gut Syndrome and Autism

The cause of autism has confounded medical science.  Recently, research from Caltech has suggested that there may be a link with leaky gut syndrome. This research showed that GI barrier defects (leaky gut) and microbiota alterations in the maternal immune activation (MIA) were found in mice that displayed features of autism. By oral treatment of MIA offspring with the human commensal Bacteroides fragilis the gut permeability was corrected and the behaviors associated with autism were reduced.  This suggests that in autistic patients with leaky gut syndrome healing the leaky gut through pro-biotic therapy might be beneficial.  The researchers cautioned that this is probably only one factor in this complex disease not  a cure and more study needs to be done.

Ref: Cell 2013 Dec 19

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24315484