Causes

The causes of autism are unknown in a majority of cases , but many researchers believe is the result of an environmental factor that interacts with a genetic susceptibility.

Neurobiological basis [edit · edit code ]
Scientific evidence suggests that in most cases, autism is a heritable disorder. In fact it is one of the neurological disorder with greater genetic influence in the world. It is as heritable as personality or IQ.

Studies of identical twins have found that if one twin has autism , the probability that the other one is also is 60 %, but around 92 % considering a broader spectrum . There is even a study that found 95.7% concordance in identical twins [citation needed] . The probability in the case of twins or siblings who are not twins is 2 % to 4 % for classic autism and 10 % to 20 % for a wide spectrum. No significant differences were found between the results of studies of twins and siblings .

However it has not been shown that genetic differences observed , although resulting in neurology and atypical behavior deemed abnormal , whether the pathological origin .

Found two related with Autism are also associated with epilepsy, SNC1A causing Dravet syndrome and PCDH19 that causes the syndrome also called Juberg EFMR Hellman genes. Also found deletions loss PCDH 10 were directly related to autism spectrum disorders " autism spectrum disorders " (ASD ) .8

It was recently discovered another involved in the development of autism gene and the association between epilepsy and autism, and two genes , in 2001 SNC1A found , in 2009 the relationship with PCDH19 and in April 2011 it was discovered known SYN1 found the family in a canadiense.9

Other research has found that the hormone oxytocin could play important role in the emergence of autismo.10 . In the brain hormone oxytocin appears to be involved in the recognition and establishment of social relations and may be involved in forming relationships and generosidad12 confianza11 13

Other studies suggest that people with autism have differences in the production of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain. Although these findings require further study.