Clinical research into autism flushed with success

Clinical research into a new technology to improve the effects of "poop transplants" for autistic children began in Shanghai on Saturday.

The treatment, fecal microbiota transplant, in which fecal matter or a stool is collected from healthy donors, mixed with a saline or other solution, strained and infused into the colon by a colonoscopy or oral capsules, has been introduced in the clinical practice.

FMT treatment is based on the theory of the brain-gut axis, which makes a connection between the central nervous and digestive systems. Previous trials have found that many children with autism have a poorer intestinal microbial environment than healthy people. Their intestinal environment improves after FMT, as does their autistic condition.

However, the current FMT capsules are handmade by medics, with disadvantages such as smell, strict storage conditions and a poor efficiency in the intestinal system.

Now, thanks to cooperation between the Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital and Shenzhen Wanhe Pharmaceutical Co, trials have begun on the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation-Multiple Layer Seamless Capsule (FMT-MLSC).

Medical experts from the hospital use an in vitro simulated digestion system to test the change of live bacteria quantity of FMT-MLSC in gastric and intestinal fluid and study the MLSC's acid resistance, live bacteria preserving rate and release position in the digestion system.

In the next step, medics will study FMT-MLSC's effects on autistic symptoms and patients' mental condition to further explain the mechanism of FMT's influence on brain function.

The incidence of autism among children is 1 percent in the world and is rising. There are some 13 million patients with autism in the nation, including some 3 million autistic children younger than 14 years old. There is no special biological diagnostic tool or effective cure for the disease so far.