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SUMMARY:The prenatal sex steroid theory of autism - Professor Simon Baron-
 Cohen\, Director\, Autism Research Centre(ARC) Professor of Developmental 
 Psychopathology\, Department of Psychology\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20151106T163000Z
DTEND:20151106T180000Z
UID:TALK60556@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Autism affects males more often than females. This is likely t
 o be true even after taking into account under-diagnosis of females with A
 sperger Syndrome. One candidate biological mechanism for this is prenatal 
 sex steroid hormones\, that shape brain development\, which themselves are
  under genetic control and have epigenetic properties. In this lecture I s
 ummarize work from our lab from 4 lines of evidence: (1) Testing if one se
 x steroid hormone\, testosterone\, measured in the womb is associated with
  individual differences in typical children’s language and social develo
 pment\, attention to detail and narrow interests\, autistic traits\, and b
 rain structure and function. (2) Testing if elevated prenatal sex steroid 
 levels are associated with autism itself. (3) Testing if proxies of prenat
 al sex steroid levels in people with autism are also atypical. (4) Testing
  if post-natal sex steroid hormones in autism are elevated. These studies 
 implicate a specific biological pathway (the Δ4 sex steroid pathway) as o
 ne important factor in the aetiology of autism. A recent animal model test
 ing this theory is discussed\, and the ethics of translating these finding
 s is considered.\n\nKey Books\nBaron-Cohen\, S\, (2003) The Essential Diff
 erence: men\, women and the extreme male brain. Penguin/Basic Books. \nBar
 on-Cohen\, S\, et al (2005) Prenatal testosterone in mind: Studies of amni
 otic fluid. MIT Press/Bradford Books. \n\nLinks: www.autismresearchcentre.
 com\n\nKey Journal Articles \nBaron-Cohen\, S\, et al (2005) Sex differenc
 es in the brain: implications for explaining autism. Science\, 310\, 819-8
 23.\nBaron-Cohen\, S\, et al (2011) Why are Autism Spectrum Conditions mor
 e prevalent in males? Public Library of Science Biology\, 9\, 1-10\; and S
 upplementary Material.\nBaron-Cohen\, S\, et al (2014). Attenuation of typ
 ical sex difference in 800 adults with autism vs. 3\,900 controls. PLoS ON
 E\, 9\, e102251.\nBaron-Cohen\, S\, et al (2015) ‘The “Reading the Min
 d in the Eyes” Test: Complete absence of typical sex difference in ~400 
 men and women with autism’. PLoS ONE\, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0136521 
 August 27\, 2015\nBaron-Cohen\, S\, et al (2015) Elevated fetal steroidoge
 nic activity in autism. Molecular Psychiatry\, 1-8. and Supplementary Mate
 rial.\nChakrabarti\, B\, et al (2009) Genes related to sex-steroids\, neur
 al growth and social-emotional behaviour are associated with autistic trai
 ts\, empathy and Asperger Syndrome. Autism Research\, 2\, 157-177.\nLai\, 
 et al (2013) Biological sex affects the neurobiology of autism. Brain\, 13
 6\, 2799-2815.\nLombardo\, et al (2012) Fetal testosterone influences sexu
 ally dimorphic gray matter in the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience. 32
 (2): 674-80.\nPohl\, et al (2014) Uncovering steroidopathy in women with a
 utism: a latent class analysis. Molecular Autism\, 5\, 27.\nRuigrok\, et a
 l (2014) A meta-analysis of sex differences in human brain structure. Neur
 oscience and Biobehavioral Reviews\, 39: 34-50.\nRuta\, L\, et al (2011) I
 ncreased serum androstenedione in adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. 
 Psychoneuroendocrinology. 36(8)\, 1154-63.\nSchwarz\, E\, et al (2010) Sex
 -specific serum biomarker patterns in adults with Asperger's Syndrome. Mol
 ecular Psychiatry. 16 (12): 1213-20.\n\n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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