ERG in ASD V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Incidence of abnormal light responses in autistic spectrum disorders
IRAS ID
235969
Contact name
Dorothy Thompson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) becomes apparent as children grow. Children with ASD are slow to develop language and have problems interacting socially with others. It is not clear why ASD happens. There is some evidence that the signals that tell the brain how to grow are different. These alter how the brain grows and functions in ASD. The eyes of a baby in the womb develop from the same tissue as the brain.
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This means that the retina, which is the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye, shares the same signals as the brain. We can detect retinal signals outside the eye. In this way, the retina acts as an accessible part of the brain.
Retinal signals are electrical messages. Sensors placed near the eye can pick up the electrical changes in the retina every time a light flashes. We call this routine, non-invasive, clinical test an electroretinogram, (ERG). We have carried out a study that showed differences in the ERGs recorded from adults with ASD compared to controls.
The main aim of this project is find out how common ERG differences are in children with ASD compared to controls. If it is common, we could use the ERG to make an earlier diagnosis of ASD and help families sooner. It could help us better understand the way the ASD brain signals and give us a way of measuring if therapies work.
Our second aim is to see if we can link ERG differences in ASD to abilities to detect the direction of moving things. There are many reports that people with ASD have problems detecting moving things, but we do not know yet why this is.REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
18/SS/0008
Date of REC Opinion
22 Feb 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion