Autism-Mitochondrial Study: Participants Needed

Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 26 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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ASD Centers, LLC has started a clinical study in the Dallas, Texas area. This study is designed to examine how L-carnitine supplementation affects behavior, cognition, muscle strength, and health/physical traits in those with a diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study has already enrolled multiple participants and space is limited.

Study Background

L-carnitine is a naturally occurring amino acid required in energy metabolism. Carnitine is essential for the utilization of fatty acids to produce the energy needed to sustain cell function. Carnitine deficiency is commonly found in children who have a diagnosis in the autism spectrum.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is also often found in those diagnosed with autism. And carnitine has been used to treat mitochondrial dysfunction.

Design of This Study

Participants: Thirty children 3-10 years of age, who have a diagnosis of autism, PDD-NOS, or other ASD or pervasive developmental disorder. Also, they cannot have had previous chelation therapy using DMSA or DMPS, and/or carnitine-based therapy, or methionine or lysine supplementation.

Study: Two-thirds of the children that participate in the study will receive treatment and one-third will receive a placebo. The study period is 3 months. Blood work and muscle strength testing will be done before and after treatment. There will be no costs to the participants.

The Autism Research Institute (ARI) and CoMeD are supporting this study.

Your generous tax-free donations to ARI1 or CoMeD2 will help to fund additional research, similar to the present study, to establish appropriate curative therapies.

1 To support the ongoing efforts of the ARI, with your tax-deductible contributions, please visit their website, http://www.autism.com

2 To support the ongoing efforts of CoMeD, Inc. with your tax-deductible contributions, please use the PayPal link on CoMeD's Internet website, http://www.Mercury-freeDrugs.org. CoMeD, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corpora¬tion that is actively engaged in legal, educational and scientific efforts to stop all use of mercury in medicine, and to ban the use of all mercury-containing medicines as well as to establish proven curative or supportive therapies for those who have been harmed.

Source
ASD Centers, LLC

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