Autism spectrum disorder risk linked to insufficient placental steroid | Children's National

Autism spectrum disorder risk linked to insufficient placental steroid | Children's National

Autism spectrum disorder risk linked to insufficient placental steroid An experimental model study suggests that allopregnanolone, one of many hormones produced by the placenta during pregnancy, is so essential to normal fetal brain development that when provision of that hormone decreases – as occurs with premature birth – offspring are more likely to develop autism-like behaviors.