Abstract

The continuous rise of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalent in the past few decades is causing an increase in public health and socioeconomic concern. A consensus suggests the involvement of both genetic and environmental factors in the ASD etiopathogenesis. Fluoride (F) is rarely recognized among the environmental risk factors of ASD, since the neurotoxic effects of F are not generally accepted. Our review aims to provide evidence of F neurotoxicity. We assess the risk of chronic F exposure in the ASD etiopathology and investigate the role of metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and inflammation, immunoexcitotoxicity, and decreased melatonin levels. These symptoms have been observed both after chronic F exposure as well as in ASD. Moreover, we show that F in synergistic interactions with aluminum’s free metal cation (Al³⁺) can reinforce the pathological symptoms of ASD. This reinforcement takes place at concentrations several times lower than when acting alone. A high ASD prevalence has been reported from countries with water fluoridation as well as from endemic fluorosis areas. We suggest focusing the ASD prevention on the reduction of the F and Al³⁺ burdens from daily life.

• Related Studies :

  • Interplay of ROS and behavioral pattern in fluoride exposed Drosophila melanogaster.

    Highlights NaF exposure increases mortality and changes male-female ratio in Drosophila. NaF treatment alters the activities endogenous antioxidant enzymes. Chronic sub-lethal NaF exposure causes increased oxidative damage. NaF decreases brain cell viability and increases DNA damage. NaF exposure alters selected behavioral pattern in Drosophila melanogaster. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is

  • Protective effect of resveratrol against neuronal damage through oxidative stress in cerebral hemisphere of aluminum and fluoride treated rats.

    Aluminum has no defined biological function and it is potentially involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore, the presence of fluoride causes more aluminum to accumulate in the brain, resulting in increased neuronal damage. In recent years, resveratrol through its ameliorative effects was found to be a neuroprotectant. This

  • Screening of Human Proteins for Fluoride and Aluminum Binding.

    Previous studies showed that prolonged exposure to fluoride (F-) and aluminum (Al3+) ions is associated with numerous diseases including neurological disorders. They don't have any known biological function. But they can bind with proteins that interact with ions similar to them. Such unwanted interactions affect the normal biological function of

  • Immunoexcitotoxicity as the central mechanism of etiopathology and treatment of autism spectrum disorders: A possible role of fluoride and aluminum.

    Our review suggests that most autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk factors are connected, either directly or indirectly, to immunoexcitotoxicity. Chronic brain inflammation is known to enhance the sensitivity of glutamate receptors and interfere with glutamate removal from the extraneuronal space, where it can trigger excitotoxicity over a prolonged period. Neuroscience

  • A possible mechanism for combined arsenic and fluoride induced cellular and DNA damage in mice

    Arsenic and fluoride are major contaminants of drinking water. Mechanisms of toxicity following individual exposure to arsenic or fluoride are well known. However, it is not explicit how combined exposure to arsenic and fluoride leads to cellular and/or DNA damage. The present study was planned to assess (i) oxidative stress

• Related FAN Content :

  • Dental Fluorosis & Enamel Hypoplasia in Children with Kidney Disease

    Children with kidney disease are known to have high levels of fluoride in their blood and to be at risk for disfiguring tooth defects. Research suggests that high levels of fluoride in blood, which can cause the tooth defect known as dental fluorosis, can contribute to the defects that occur

  • Fluoridation, Dialysis & Osteomalacia

    In the 1960s and 1970s, doctors discovered that patients receiving kidney dialysis were accumulating very high levels of fluoride in their bones and blood, and that this exposure was associated with severe forms of osteomalacia, a bone-softening disease that leads to weak bones and often excruciating bone pain. Based on

  • Annapolis: Water Fluoridation Linked to Death of Dialysis Patient

    EVENING CAPITAL (Annapolis, Maryland) November 29, 1979 Fluoride Linked to Death by Mary Ann Kryzankowicz Staff Writer Fluoride poisoning has been definitely linked to the death of a 65-year-old kidney dialysis patient who became ill during a blood cleaning process Nov 11. State Medical Examiner Dr. (illegible) Guard has ruled that Lawrence Blake, 65, of Arundel

  • Fluoride & IQ: 67 Studies

    As of May 2020, a total of 75 studies have investigated the relationship between fluoride and human intelligence. Of these investigations, 67 studies have found that elevated fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ in humans, while over 60 animal studies have found that fluoride exposure impairs the learning and/or

  • Skeletal Fluorosis & Individual Variability

    One of the common fallacies in the research on skeletal fluorosis is the notion that there is a uniform level of fluoride that is safe for everyone in the population. These "safety thresholds" have been expressed in terms of (a) bone fluoride content, (b) daily dose, (c) water fluoride level, (d) urinary fluoride level, and (e) blood fluoride level. The central fallacy with each of these alleged safety thresholds, however, is that they ignore the wide range of individual susceptibility in how people respond to toxic substances, including fluoride.