Abnormal brain protein synthesis in language areas of children with pervasive developmental disorder: a...

This study was performed to evaluate the cerebral protein synthesis rate of language brain regions in children with developmental delay with and without pervasive developmental disorder. The authors performed L-[1-(11)C]-leucine positron emission tomography (PET) on 8 developmental delay children with pervasive developmental disorder (mean age, 76.25 months) and 8 developmental delay children without pervasive developmental disorder (mean age, 77.63 months). They found a higher protein synthesis rate in developmental delay children with pervasive developmental disorder in the left posterior middle temporal region (P = .014). There was a significant correlation of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale autism index score with the protein synthesis rate of the left posterior middle temporal region (r = .496, P = .05). In addition, significant asymmetric protein synthesis (right > left) was observed in developmental delay children without pervasive developmental disorder in the middle frontal and posterior middle temporal regions (P = .03 and P = .04, respectively). In conclusion, abnormal language area protein synthesis in developmentally delayed children may be related to pervasive symptoms.