Autism may be linked to hormones

CAMBRIDGE, England, Nov 4, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Researchers in Britain say that autism may be the result of an exaggeration of what happens in male brains.

Simon Baron-Cohen, of the Cambridge Autism Research Center, says the "extreme male brain" explanation for autism may be that boys' brains grow more quickly than girls' and in the brains of people with autism, this growth appears to occur to an even more extreme degree, reported the BBC Friday.

Males generally have greater early growth of certain brain regions and less hemispheric connectivity than females, according to the researchers.

The researchers say there is evidence that exposure to male hormones produced by a male fetus' testes, such as testosterone, before birth, may affect male brain development patterns.

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