Autism Treatment – Autism Research and Brain inflammation

In part one of this 2 part series I will talk about the issue of Autism and brain inflammation. This is something I have talked about before, inflammation of the brain and what happens in regards to Autism, something we call neurological inflammation. There is emerging research on this important topic from facilities like Johns Hopkins University and others showing that individuals with Autism tend to have higher rates of neuro inflammatory markers as well as being more adversely affected by the inflammation.

The microglia is a cell or a system in the brain. The microglia are a component to the immune system function of the central nervous system and the brain. And what appears to happen in many individuals with Autism is something called microglia activation. Microglia activation occurs when the microglia are activated but do not turn off. Many things can activate the microglia such as bacteria, a virus, even chemical reactions can cause it. Some cases have even shown that certain vaccines could be contributing factors to microglia activation.

The system is not shutting off when you have microglia activation. And that can lead to the destruction of what are called synapses and chronic inflammation. The small spaces between the cells where the neuro-chemicals are transferred from one nerve cell to the next as a communication link is the synapse. What happens is that we have a chemical reaction from across the synapse which creates an electrical chemical reaction on the other nerve cell. So when anything happens to impact the synapse then you will be impacting the transportation of chemicals from one region of the brain to the other along with the activation of electrical impulses of the brain as well.

The issue of microglia activation should be something that you know about and realize that not any one thing causes it. You may want to look at microglia activation as something that is impacting your child with Autism and may be contributing to their condition. You may have noticed a vaccine reaction in your child or maybe your child has had immune system problems their whole lives and has always dealt with gut problems, multiple food sensitivities, etc. or maybe they just never normalized after having an infection at some point. These things could indicate that your child has microglia activation. And in part 2 I will cover some of the ways to treat microglia activation.