ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Autism

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1587727

Dysregulation of G Protein Subunits in Autism: Decreased GNAO1 and Elevated GNAI1 Levels in ASD

Provisionally accepted
Hatice TOPALHatice TOPAL1*Nilfer SAHINNilfer SAHIN2Cilem OZDEMIRCilem OZDEMIR3Ozlem NEHIR YAZICIOzlem NEHIR YAZICI4Gulsum DEMIRKAN BASKAYAGulsum DEMIRKAN BASKAYA4Yasar TOPALYasar TOPAL1Tuba Gökdoğan EdgünlüTuba Gökdoğan Edgünlü5
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Türkiye
  • 2Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Türkiye
  • 3Department of Bioinformatics, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Türkiye
  • 4Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Muğla Training and Research Hospital, Muğla, Türkiye
  • 5Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social interaction deficits and repetitive behaviors. This study explores the potential role of G protein subunits GNAO1, GNB1, and GNAI1 in the underlying mechanisms by comparing their serum levels in individuals with ASD and non-autistic participants.We enrolled 42 children (aged 3-7 years) diagnosed with ASD and 42 age-and sexmatched non-autistic participants. Serum levels of GNAO1, GNB1, and GNAI1 were quantified using ELISA. Additionally, in silico analysis was conducted to investigate protein interaction networks and functional enrichment.Results: Serum GNAO1 levels were significantly decreased (p=0.049), while GNAI1 levels were significantly increased (p=0.046) in the ASD group compared to controls. No significant difference was observed in GNB1 levels (p=0.141). In silico analysis implicated these proteins in GABAergic and dopamine signaling pathways, both of which are critically involved in neurobiological basis of ASD.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that dysregulation of G protein signaling pathways, characterized by reduced GNAO1 and increased GNAI1 levels, may contribute to underlying mechanisms of ASD.Further research is warranted to clarify the mechanistic roles of these subunits in ASD and their potential as biomarkers or therapeutic targets.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, G protein subunits, GNAO1, GNB1, Gnai1

Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 TOPAL, SAHIN, OZDEMIR, NEHIR YAZICI, DEMIRKAN BASKAYA, TOPAL and Gökdoğan Edgünlü. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Hatice TOPAL, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Türkiye

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material