The role of brain lipids in the causal model of autism. Re-interpretation of the existing data.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been a puzzle and a challenge to scientists for at least half a century, despite considerable scientific efforts. The aim of the present review is to demonstrate significant connections that exist between two parallel, but hitherto unconnected, spheres of research: phenotypic/genotypic studies in autistic individuals and deleterious effects on the brain caused by essential lipid deficiencies. Re-interpretation of the existing data suggests that autism may be a consequence of pre– and postnatal deficiency of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a major component of the brain, a lipid essential for its structure and function. This review connects the ASD and DHA databases in a specific pairing of the proximate factors (data from studies in individuals with autism) with DHA deficiency as the ultimate factor. This specific pairing suggests a coherent mechanistic model of the origin of autism and calls for a new, interdisciplinary approach that would connect the two databases in the design of future studies on ASD. The proposed genetic and maternal effects are testable according to the outlined methodology.