A Preliminary Investigation of Dopamine Transporter Binding Abnormalities in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Doctors took brain scans of twelve autistic young adults. They used a special camera that tracks dopamine transporters. These transporters act like tiny vacuum cleaners that suck up dopamine after it sends a signal.

The team also looked at how different brain areas talked to each other while the scanner ran. They wanted to see if dopamine cleaners were missing or broken in autism.

Four out of twelve adults showed clear trouble in the striatum. The dopamine cleaners were too few or worked poorly there. The other eight adults looked like typical controls.

Exploratory maps hinted that the broken spots changed how distant regions synced up. The authors call the work preliminary and warn against big claims.

Maier et al. (2022) also found a chemical glitch in autistic adults, but theirs was extra GABA in the prefrontal cortex. Both papers point to silent neurochemical differences that standard tests miss.

Lin et al. (2025) pooled twenty-six resting-state studies and saw under-connectivity in attention and default networks. Nanan’s striatal dopamine findings sit inside that bigger picture of wonky wiring.

Nuraini et al. (2026) later mailed a short reply letter stressing that their numbers are tiny and clinical advice is premature. Reading the letter keeps you from over-reading the scan data.

You can’t see dopamine transporters without a DaT-SPECT scan, and most clinics don’t own one. Still, knowing that one-third of autistic adults may carry this hidden risk can shape how you interpret movement quirks or attention swings. Track any new tremors, rigidity, or sudden medication side-effects and refer to neurology early. The finding also reminds us that autism in adults is biologically diverse; one size of support or meds will never fit all.