Research on Metabolic Effects of Sapropterin Tx in ASD

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Below is a summary of a recent article on research on metabolic effects of Sapropterin treatment in autism spectrum disorder.

Sapropterin, a synthetic form of tetrahydroiopterin (BH4) has been reported to improve symptoms of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dr. Richard Frye, Director of the Autism Research Program at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, led a group of researchers in further investigating which metabolic pathways were associated with improvements seen due to BH4 treatment. Their findings support previous research results that BH4 treatment can be effective for treating symptoms associated with ASD, and add that response to BH4 treatment may primarily involve nitric oxide (NO) and BH4 metabolism and suggest biomarkers of NO metabolism may be helpful in predicting response to BH4 supplementation.

You can find the article online by searching for Frye, Sapropterin and Autism

First question, are they counting reducing stimming as part if the "improve symptoms" for children on the spectrum?

The way I look at it, sensory issues are the problem, stimming is part of the solution. And yes, I am in favor of a private public distinction and modeling more low-key methods for public.

Here's an abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23462988/

According to the full article they saw improvement in receptive language and adaptive social behaviors, and daily living skills. I did not see this compared with a control group, and I have not dug into their statistics. But their results were far more comprehensive than stimming.

The following is about a ten minute news clip, the beginning of which Carly Fleischmann types about, when you can't sit still because your legs feel like they are on fire, or it feels like a hundred ants are crawling up your arms.

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri ... VaT-VkCs0k

My point being that sensory issues, depending on the person, can be a huge quality of life issue.