Abstract

Autism is a neuro developmental disorder that is caused by many factors such as genetics, environment and maternal condition. There are a lot of environmental risk factors that influence autism pathogenesis by their epigenetic effects [1]. Among the risk factors of autism as a multifactorial disorder is the low vitamin D status in early development. The concurrent increase of prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and autism during the last 20 years might help to suggest vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency during pregnancy or in the first year of life as a contributor which can be related to different etiological mechanisms of autism. Confirmation of the role of vitamin D status in autism may provide strategy for primary and secondary preventive interventions. This manuscript is an attempt to solve the contradiction related to the role of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency in autism and to find its relationship with oxidative stress; neuro inflammation, autoimmunity and glutamate excite toxicity and apoptosis as pathos-physiological mechanisms.