PLT Test Blog

Endothelial dysfunction is not something people associate with autism. It is something I have covered previously in this blog and if you search on Google my post is about all you will find. Endothelial dysfunction is acknowledged to be very important in diabetes, which is characterized by ROS (reactive oxygen species), reduced NO (nitric oxide) , reduced eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) and too much Arginase. There is also Peroxynitrite (ONOO − ), an ion we have encountered before. In autism we do already know from the research that VEGF ( Vascular endothelial growth factor) is disturbed and there will be a post on that. So when you put it all this together, it is odd that nobody has researched endothelial dysfunction and autism.   When I find something like this, my fallback is always schizophrenia. What about Endothelial Dysfunction and Schizophrenia? Sure enough, there is plenty of research on the subject, like this paper. Microvascular dysfunction in schizophrenia...

This post is rather out of sequence, but it draws together several different topics that I have been investigating and introduces another chemical often mentioned in autism research, BH4.  The factor that links them all together is something called Endothelial Dysfunction. This blog has already established that oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are the key drivers behind autism.  It has not been clear whether the oxidative stress causes the inflammation, vice versa, or perhaps they are self perpetuating. In my ongoing investigation into the autism comorbidities of asthma and high cholesterol (proxy for cardiovascular disease), I have come across some tantalising fact, such as:- Asthma research shows that cigarette smoking gives you oxidative stress and this continues even after stopping smoking.  The oxidative stress reduces the effectiveness of asthma drugs. Oxidative stress is a key factor in cardiovascular disease. BH4 also known as Tetrahydrobiopterin , THB, trad...