Animal study finds fentanyl may cause autism-like changes in young mice
Fentanyl is one of the most commonly used analgesics in hospitals.
The research team reported that fentanylinduces autism in young male and female mice through activation of mu-opioid receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, fentanyl-induced autism is partly explained by hypermethylation mediated by decreased expression of the Grin2b gene in the anterior cingulate cortex of mice.
"We found that fentanyl reducesGrin2b expression in the anterior cingulate cortex. Overexpression of Grin2b prevents fentanyl-induced autism-like behavior in mice. These results suggest a potential mechanism for the prevention or treatment of autistic-like behavior,” – says Yuan Shen, MD, senior author of the paper and professor of psychiatry at Shanghai 10th People's Hospital