{"id":233326,"date":"2026-03-14T14:14:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T19:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/autisms-link-to-parkinsons-risk-may-finally-be-explained"},"modified":"2026-03-14T14:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T19:14:44","slug":"autisms-link-to-parkinsons-risk-may-finally-be-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/autisms-link-to-parkinsons-risk-may-finally-be-explained","title":{"rendered":"Autism\u2019s Link to Parkinson\u2019s Risk May Finally Be Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/autisms-link-to-parkinsons-risk-may-finally-be-explained.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>People with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/autism-spectrum-disorder\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_self\">autism<\/a> may be <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/aur.70144\">up to six times<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1001\/jamaneurol.2025.1284\">more likely<\/a> to develop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/go\/IYl\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_self\">Parkinson\u2019s<\/a> disease in later life. New research offers a potential explanation based on the role of transporter molecules that recycle unused dopamine in the brain.<\/p>\n<p>Dopamine is a neurotransmitter crucial for managing movement and executive functions, and for reinforcing behavior. It\u2019s well known that Parkinson\u2019s is characterized by a drop in dopamine levels, while disruptions in the transport of the chemical have also <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.celrep.2024.114997\">been linked<\/a> to autism.<\/p>\n<p>With that context, researchers led by a team from the University of Missouri in the US took a novel approach using a technology known as a DaT SPECT scan, which is typically used to diagnose Parkinson\u2019s in much older people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People with autism may be up to six times more likely to develop Parkinson\u2019s disease in later life. New research offers a potential explanation based on the role of transporter molecules that recycle unused dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter crucial for managing movement and executive functions, and for reinforcing behavior. It\u2019s well [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-chemistry","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}