PLT Test Blog

T his post is about monoamine neurotransmitter disorders in Autism, that are usually a down-stream consequence of other miscellaneous dysfunctions , which makes them “secondary” dysfunctions. There was a post on this blog way back in 2013 on catecholamines: Catecholamines and Autism Classical monoamine is a broader term and encompasses:-     Histamine        ·            Classical Tryptamines : Serotonin Melatonin Catecholamines : Adrenaline Dopamine Noradrenaline Drugs used to increase or reduce the effect of monoamines are sometimes used to treat patients with psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. This blog does go on rather ad nauseam about histamine, so today it will skip over it.   It does not cause autism, but it certainly can make it much worse in some people. Tryptophan is a precursor to the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin .   For ...

Today’s post was originally intended to look at some further methods used to enhance cognitive function. Unlike people with typical mild cognitive impairment (MCI), some people with autism exhibit highly variable cognitive function, one way this is visible is in their hand writing quality. We previously saw that in cases of PANDAS/PANS, deterioration of hand writing is also seen during acute episodes.   One possible cause of cognitive decline is mitochondrial dysfunction.   This is a highly complex subject in its own right and so I decided to start with a post introducing mitochondrial disease and dysfunction.     Mitochondria Mitochondria are tiny organelles found in almost every cell in the body. These organelles are responsible for creating 90% of cellular energy necessary to maintain life and support growth. Mitochondrial disease occurs when mitochondria in the cells fail to produce enough energy to sustain cell life. When enough cells cease to function properly ...