Lower Availability of Mitochondrial Complex I in Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Autism: A Positron Emission Tomography Study

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in previous studies of postmortem brain or peripheral samples. The authors investigated whether and where mitochondrial dysfunction occurs in the living brains of individuals with ASD and to identify the clinical correlates of detected mitochondrial dysfunction.This case-control study used positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-Among the brain regions in which mitochondrial dysfunction has been reported in postmortem studies of autistic brains, participants with ASD had significantly decreased [This study provides direct evidence to link in vivo brain mitochondrial dysfunction with ASD pathophysiology and its communicational deficits. The findings support the possibility that mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I is a novel therapeutic target for ASD core symptoms.