Table 1 Characteristics of the studied population including 185 families with ASD investigated for the melatonin synthesis pathway biochemical traits.

From: Heritability of the melatonin synthesis variability in autism spectrum disorders

 

All (415 males, 290 females)

Affected (A) (174 males, 39 females)

Unaffected (U) (62 males, 66 females)

Parents (P) (179 males, 185 females)

Wilcoxon rank-sum test

n

M (SD)

n

M (SD)

n

M (SD)

n

M (SD)

PA/U

PA/P

PU/P

Age

705

31.1 (18.6)

213

14.4 (9.1)

128

14.8 (8.0)

364

46.5 (9.5)

0.33

  

Serotonin

621

491.1 (319.7)

189

645.8 (407.6)

111

433.5 (252.2)

321

419.9 (241.2)

9.4 × 10 −6

4.4 × 10 −10

0.63

AANAT

486

3.9 (0.9)

155

3.6 (0.9)

72

4.0 (0.8)

259

4.0 (0.8)

1.1 × 10 −3

2.8 × 10 −6

0.87

NAS

348

36.9 (15.0)

107

44.3 (15.9)

56

35.0 (13.3)

185

33.2 (13.3)

6.4 × 10 −5

3.2 × 10 −10

0.41

ASMT

381

1.1 (0.7)

118

0.8 (0.6)

56

1.2 (0.7)

207

1.2 (0.8)

1.6 × 10 −4

2.3 × 10 −10

0.38

Melatonin

521

0.12 (0.08)

157

0.10 (0.071)

100

0.14 (0.08)

264

0.14 (0.08)

3.6 × 10 −8

2.4 × 10 −11

0.70

  1. Affected include probands with ASD and affected siblings. Unaffected include unaffected siblings. The 12 other relatives (affected parents, grandparents, and uncles) are not included in this table. Significant p-values after Bonferroni correction are indicated in bold: 16 tests were performed including 15 critical tests (age was not relevant) p-values < 3.33 × 10−3 (0.05/15) were considered as significant. Blood serotonin (nM); platelet AANAT and ASMT activities (pmol/109 platelets/30 min); platelet NAS (nmol/109 platelets); melatonin (nM); age (years); M, Mean; SD, Standard Deviation; n, numbers of subjects; PA/U, p-value of the test comparing affected children to unaffected children; PA/P, p-value of the test comparing affected children to the parents; PU/P, p-value of the test comparing unaffected children to the parents.
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