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Maternal illness or the medication for it causing the autism link?
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent psychopharmacology update
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7567
pISSN - 1527-8395
DOI - 10.1002/cpu.30402
Subject(s) - opioid receptor , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor , autism , autism spectrum disorder , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , medicine , cannabinoid , psychiatry , receptor , psychology , pharmacology , nicotinic agonist , neuroscience , agonist
A study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that there is a need to look at the association with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and prenatal exposure to medications that affect neurotransmitters. That study, published in December 2018 and written by Magdalena Janecka, Ph.D., and colleagues, found that children exposed in utero to cannabinoid receptor agonists, muscarinic receptor 2 agonists, opioid receptor κ and ε agonists, or α2C‐adrenergic receptor agonists had no increased risk of ASD. Children exposed prenatally to antagonists of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α had higher risks of ASD. However, replication and/or validation was recommended.