Projection of Need for Pathogenetic Testing for Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Children of India

Background  Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. There is a large quantity of evidence which point towards a positive correlation between Autism and Mitochondrial disorders (MD). In addition to that, several published reports, indicate that people with neurological disorders exhibit pathological signs of mitochondrial disorders and vice versa. Screening for underlying MD is essential in ASD as the children (clinically) appear and behave the same way in the both instances; however, their management is very different. Materials and Methods The current study examined biochemical, neuroimaging and genotyping technique in ASD patients to see which technique would be easier to interpret and indicate underlying MD. The analysis of the screening was based on several objectives like clinical, histological, biochemical, molecular, neuroimaging and enzymatic findings. Results We found out that pathogenetic analysis based on clinical and genotyping gives spontaneous results to analyse the possibility of MD in ASD patients. Conclusion  It does not necessarily require blood samples from ASD patients to accomplish this type of analysis.