https://www.scj.go.jp/ja/event/2022/318-s-0219.html
Public Symposium "Children‘s Toxicology: Current Status and Prospects of ClinicalApplied and Basic Science for Understanding the Effects of Chemical Exposure on Higher
Brain Functions in Children”
Various statistical data show that the number of cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
is increasing, while new cases of schizophrenia (SCZ) are decreasing. Autism spectrum
disorder is a broad view of autism as a collection of cases that present with slightly different
symptoms in a continuous rainbow of colors, but in fact, SCZ cases also present with a varietyof symptoms that could be called a spectrum disorder. It has been reported that there are casesof ASD in young SCZ cases, and it has been pointed out that there is a relationship between
ASD and SCZ. In recent years, research on the relationship between ASD and SCZ has been
conducted at the genetic level as well, and a gene called Auts2, which is closely related to ASD,
has received attention as an important gene not only for ASD but also for brain development,
and this gene has been reported to be related to some cases of SCZ. It has been reported thatmice with altered Auts2 gene show abnormal behaviors associated with symptoms of ASDcases, and that expression of Auts2 gene is affected when mice are given chemicals that target
nerves such as acephate, resulting in behavioral abnormalities.
Taken together, the increase in ASD cases and the decrease in SCZ cases may be due to thefact that ASD cases are diagnosed by the age of 3 years, while SCZ cases are often firstdiagnosed at the age of 20 years, and some ASD cases might have been diagnosed as SCZ
when the cases reached the age of 20. Therefore, there may be a possibility that some of thecases that should have been diagnosed as SCZ at the age of 20 are diagnosed as ASD at theage of 3 years, and a result of various measures taken from the age of 3, the number of new
SCZ cases has decreased. At the same time, the question arises as to whether the "total numberof ASD cases and SCZ cases" is still increasing or not. There is accumulating informationsuggesting that environmental exposure to chemicals may be contributing to the increase in
ASD. Whether total number of cases are really increasing, or, the increase can be explainedby the changes in diagnostic criteria and social factors such as changes in educational settings
to bring more cases to normal school classrooms, or both?
These issues are very important from the standpoint of toxicology, which is aninterdisciplinary field of study. Therefore, we planned to hold a symposium with experts ineach research field to discuss the following topics: statistics from the Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which was one of the triggers for thisproject; the relationship between the changes in diagnostic criteria for ASD and SCZ and thenumber of cases; the current status and prospects of molecular biological analysis of ASD andSCZ, including the Auts2 gene; and the effects of environmental factors, including exposure
to chemical substances (including epigenetic effects). We are looking forward to yourparticipation.
----------------Saturday, February 19, 2022, 13:00-17:20
On line13:00 Opening Remarks
Jun Kanno (Affiliate Member of Science Council of Japan, National Institute of HealthSciences)
Chair: Seiichiro Himeno (Affiliate member of Science Council of Japan, Visiting Professor,
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University)
13:10 "Relationship between birth weight and neurodevelopment in children”
Tsuyoshi Ichikawa (Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University)
13:40 "Environmental Factors in Autism Spectrum Disorders"Hideo Matsuzaki (Professor, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University ofFukui)
14:10 "Epidemiology of Autism and Schizophrenia"
Kenji Tsuchiya (Specially Appointed Professor, Research Center for Child MentalDevelopment, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine)
Break 14:40 - 14:5014:50 "Research on ASD/SCZ based on genome analysis"
Norio Ozaki (Member of Science Council of Japan, Secretary of the Second Section of SCJ,
Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University)
15:20 "Emotional and cognitive behavioral effects of oral acephate administration in mice".
Kentaro Tanemura (Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University)
15:50 "AUTS2 gene, brain neurodevelopment, and psychiatric disorders".
Mikio Hoshino (Director, Department of Pathophysiology and Biochemistry, National
Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry)
Break 16:20 - 16:30
16:30 - 17:10
Panel Discussion Chair: Jun Kanno
Panelists

Yuko Sekino (Adjunct Member, Science Council of Japan; Specially Appointed Professor,
Endowed Chair in Human Cell Pharmacy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The
University of Tokyo)
Seiichiro Himeno
17:10 - 17:20 Closing remarks