BEHAVIORAL EXPRESSION RELATION TO SEROTONIN LEVEL AND ALLELE GENOTYPE OF SEROTONIN TRANSPORTER PROMOTER IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Autism is a neuron developmental disorder result from environment and genetic material interaction.Heterogeneity and severity of autism phenotypic criteria are result of different involved genes and their different gene expression level.In this study severity of autistic criteria investigated in 219 identified as autistic children in Misurata city and role of serotonin in autism was investigated.The data showed that 45% of the children have strong autistic criteria while 55% are spectrum according to autistic criteria used in the Autism centers in Maserati city.Serotonin level in the blood was determined in 26 autistic children by HPLC method.The level was low, moderate and high represented by 38.4%; 27% and 34.6% respectively.The continuous autistic symptoms with low and high level of serotonin indicate allele polymorphism of serotonin transport gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR).The data shows also linkage of serotonin level with specific behavior that represent genotype SS, SL, LL that conformed by PCR reaction using specific primer for 5-HTTLPR.The rate of S allele transmission was higher than L allele transmission in Maserati autistic children.This study demonstrates a significantly changes in blood serotonin level and 5-TTHLPR polymorphism related to autism phenotype that make it good biomarker for autism.