Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder by Karyn Seroussi

Author:Karyn Seroussi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

CHAPTER SEVEN

* * *

Breakthroughs

Alan was a senior research scientist; he reported directly to the management level. As his work on an assay for urinary peptides progressed, he kept them informed on the outlook of his side project, as well as on the other work he was doing. Collecting urine samples from local autistic children, he and his assistant, Michelle, were intrigued to find peaks in the urine that did not appear in the urine of siblings or normal controls.

It seemed that Kalle Reichelt and Paul Shattock were correct—there did seem to be opiate-containing peptides in these children’s urine that were breakdown products of gluten and casein, as well as a third peak that seemed to go down after a long time on the diet. But Alan’s equipment was much more sophisticated than theirs. Using the company’s state-of-the-art triple quadrupole electrospray mass spectrometer, he could identify each one of the peaks that had appeared using the less accurate high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Whatever that mysterious substance was, he was sure to discover it.

But he was not prepared for the results. The urine samples he had taken contained something so unexpected, so harmful, that its presence in a human child seemed impossible. It appeared to be a known substance with strong neurological effects that had previously only been seen in the poison dart frog.

Alan was stunned. Dermorphin? Where the heck could that be coming from? It was a substance known to be so potent that the tiniest trace could have a powerful psychoactive effect. South American tribal shamans would hold one of these frogs over a fire to induce a stress response, then rub the animal’s sweat secretions into an open cut. Then they would go into a hallucinogenic state that lasted for several hours.

If the smallest trace of dermorphin could induce such a state, why on earth were autistic children excreting it in large quantities?

Alan and his partner, John, double-checked the molecular weight of the substance to be certain. Once again, it checked out. It was astonishing but true—for some inexplicable reason, dermorphin could be bombarding the brains of human children.

I had heard of the poison dart frog, in a vague sort of way, but did not know much about it until Alan explained its history. “Holy cow,” I said. “That sounds a lot more powerful than the casomorphin.”

“That’s not all,” he continued. “After their hallucinogenic experience, the shamans are known to have terrible, profuse diarrhea.”

“Wow. So that might be what’s causing the autism, not the opioids from milk and wheat.”

“Or a combination of the two. Or the production of the opioids could stimulate production of the dermorphin, which may disappear after some time on the diet. Or the same enzyme may be responsible for breaking down both, and this enzyme is not being utilized.”

Further testing showed that this substance was present in many samples from autistic children, along with the gluten and casein peptides. In autistic children on the diet, it often appeared alone.

It was never present in normal controls, nor was it in our daughter, Laura’s, urine.

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