Novel role of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-α in valproic acid rat model of autism: Mechanistic study of risperidone and metformin monotherapy versus combination

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of heterogenous etiology exhibiting a challenge in understanding its exact neuro-pathophysiology. Recently, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-α activation was found to play a fundamental role in neuroprotection and improving autistic-like-behaviors in experimental animal models of ASD through alleviating neuroinflammation, oxidative-stress, astrocyte reactivity, tauopathy in addition to its favorable role in metabolic regulation, thus attracting attention as a possible target in treatment of ASD.