Metabolomics-Based Elucidation of Therapeutic Mechanism of Luteolin Towards Autism in Children and Relevant Drug-Drug Interaction Risk

Limited understanding for pathogenetic autism spectrum disorders results in the limited drugs for these diseases. In the present study, metabolomics-based analysis method was employed to compare healthy volunteers (n = 10), autism children (n = 10), and luteolin-treated autism children (n = 10). The results showed that autism children exhibited higher long-chain fatty acid-carnitine conjugates than healthy volunteers, indicating the inhibition of fatty acids oxidative process in autism children. The treatment with luteolin significantly decreased the level of long-chain fatty acid-carnitine conjugates. The drug-drug interaction risk between luteolin and zidovudine was furtherly determined, and the results showed that luteolin did not affect the metabolism of these two drugs. In conclusion, metabolomics-based analysis of luteolin-treated autism patients showed that luteolin can reverse autism-induced inhibition of fatty acids metabolism. Additionally, this drug is relatively safe because of none of drug-drug interaction.