1)渭南师范学院体育学院,渭南 714099;2)北京师范大学体育与运动学院,北京 100875;3)渭南职业技术学院基础课部,渭南 714026
陕西省社会科学基金(2023Q017),陕西省大学生创新计划项目(S202410723043)和渭南师范学院人才项目(2025RC38)资助。
1)School of Physical Education, Weinan Normal University, Weinan 714099, China;2)College of P.E, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;3)Department of Basic Courses, Weinan Vocational & Technical College, Weinan 714026, China
This work was supported by grants from Shaanxi Provincial Social Science Foundation Project (2023Q017), Shaanxi Provincial College Students’ Innovation Training Program Project (S202410723043), and Weinan Normal University High-Level Talent Project (2025RC38).
孤独症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种全球患病率持续上升的神经发育疾病,目前有效药物干预手段十分有限,迫切需要探索安全、可行且具有明确机制基础的干预策略。体育运动作为一种前景广阔的非药物干预手段,已被证实能够改善ASD儿童及青少年的核心症状——包括社交沟通缺陷和限制性重复行为以及认知功能障碍和运动障碍等共病表现。然而,介导这些改善效应的分子机制至今尚未被充分阐明,这阻碍了循证运动处方的制定和基于生物标志物的康复方案开发。微小RNA(miRNA)是进化上高度保守的小分子非编码RNA,在转录后水平调控约60%的蛋白质编码基因。在中枢神经系统中,miRNA协调多种神经生物学过程,包括神经前体细胞增殖、神经元分化、树突棘形态发生、突触可塑性以及神经炎症稳态。但miRNA在体液中异常稳定,并可被包装进入细胞外囊泡,使其既可作为机制介导因子,又可作为非侵入性外周生物标志物。脑内表达的数百种miRNA中,有3个——miR-132、miR-34a和miR-146a——与ASD病理生理的关联尤为密切。本综述聚焦于这3个miRNA。miR-132通过调控BDNF/MeCP2/PTEN信号通路成为活动依赖性突触可塑性的核心调控因子,在ASD前额叶皮层中呈现一致性下调;miR-34a作为促凋亡因子,通过抑制Bcl-2介导的神经元存活通路发挥促凋亡作用,在ASD小脑中表达上调;miR-146a则通过TLR7/IRAK1信号通路充当神经炎症的关键“刹车”,在ASD颞叶中呈现区域特异性失调。本文首先系统总结了来自人脑死后组织和ASD动物模型的证据,证实这3个miRNA在ASD中呈现一致的表达异常。值得注意的是,这些miRNA异常所导致的病理后果——突触可塑性受损、神经元过度凋亡和持续性神经炎症——相互关联,共同促成ASD的异质性症状谱。其次,本文对新近证据进行了综合分析,表明多种运动方式(包括游泳、跑台运动和自主跑轮运动)能够同时逆转这些ASD样行为表型,并使上述3个关键miRNA的表达恢复正常。这些数据是运动诱导的miRNA调控与ASD症状改善之间存在关联的直接实验证据。基于上述发现,本文提出了一个“运动-miRNA-ASD”整合框架。在该框架中,运动通过协同调控3个miRNA,同时发挥增强突触可塑性、促进神经元存活和减轻神经炎症的多靶点调节作用。重要的是,该框架不仅是描述性的,还提出了可检验的预测:运动诱导的miRNA变化应呈现剂量依赖性,应与行为改善呈时间相关性,并应被miRNA特异性拮抗剂或CRISPR/Cas9介导的基因敲除所阻断。该框架在ASD的具体应用之外,具有更广泛的启示意义。miR-132/BDNF、miR-34a/Bcl-2和miR-146a/TLR7通路并非ASD特有,而是代表着在阿尔茨海默病、创伤性脑损伤、帕金森病和重度抑郁症等多种疾病中普遍失调的神经应激与修复机制。运动在上述多种疾病中已被证实可调控相同的miRNA,提示“运动-miRNA-神经功能”轴可能代表一种超越疾病界限、在进化上保守的神经保护机制。因此,ASD可作为阐明这一普适机制的理想模型,其研究发现可能具有向其他神经系统疾病推广的潜力。本文同时对当前的转化瓶颈进行了批判性评估:缺乏开展连续miRNA检测的人体临床试验;运动参数与miRNA表达之间的量效关系尚未明确;因果关系尚待证实(现有证据仅支持相关性而非因果性);以及外周血外泌体miRNA水平与脑内miRNA动态之间的相关性尚不确定。这表明未来研究应优先采用CRISPR/Cas9介导的miRNA操控联合长期运动干预的动物实验设计以确立因果关系,同时有必要开展跨疾病验证研究,以明确运动诱导的miRNA变化究竟是具有疾病特异性的“标签”还是共享的神经保护“信号”。最终,我们展望这样一种范式:通过简单的血液检测测定外泌体miR-132、miR-34a和miR-146a水平,即可指导个性化运动处方的制定,从而为ASD患者乃至其他神经系统疾病患者实现精准康复。
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition with a steadily rising global prevalence, yet effective pharmacological interventions remain notably limited, highlighting an urgent need for safe, accessible, and mechanism-based therapeutic strategies. Physical exercise has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological intervention that ameliorates both core symptoms—social communication deficits and restricted repetitive behaviors—and associated features including cognitive dysfunction and motor impairments, in children and adolescents with ASD. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating these beneficial effects remain incompletely defined, impeding the development of evidence-based exercise prescriptions and biomarker-driven rehabilitation protocols. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate approximately 60% of protein-coding genes. Within the central nervous system, miRNAs orchestrate diverse neurobiological processes including neural progenitor proliferation, neuronal differentiation, dendritic spine morphogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and neuroinflammatory homeostasis. Notably, miRNAs are remarkably stable in biological fluids and can be packaged into extracellular vesicles, rendering them attractive candidates as both mechanistic mediators and non-invasive peripheral biomarkers. Among the hundreds of miRNAs expressed in the brain, three—miR-132, miR-34a, and miR-146a—have emerged as particularly relevant to ASD pathophysiology. This review focuses on these three miRNAs for the following reasons: miR-132 is a master regulator of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity through its modulation of BDNF/MeCP2/PTEN signaling and has been consistently downregulated in ASD prefrontal cortex; miR-34a functions as a pro-apoptotic factor that suppresses Bcl-2-mediated neuronal survival pathways and is upregulated in ASD cerebellum; and miR-146a serves as a key brake on neuroinflammation via TLR7/IRAK1 signaling and shows region-specific dysregulation in ASD temporal lobe. We first summarize evidence from human post-mortem brain tissues and ASD animal models demonstrating the consistent dysregulation of these three miRNAs. Notably, the pathological consequences of these miRNA alterations—impaired synaptic plasticity, excessive neuronal apoptosis, and sustained neuroinflammation—are interconnected and collectively contribute to the heterogeneous symptomatology of ASD. We then present a synthesis of emerging evidence demonstrating that various exercise modalities, including swimming, treadmill running, and voluntary wheel running, can concurrently reverse these ASD-like behavioral phenotypes and normalize the expression of the three key miRNAs. These data provide the first direct experimental evidence linking exercise-induced miRNA modulation to ASD symptom improvement. On the basis of these findings, we propose an integrative “exercise-miRNA-ASD” framework wherein exercise functions as a multi-targeted modulator—simultaneously enhancing synaptic plasticity, promoting neuronal survival, and attenuating neuroinflammation—through coordinated regulation of the three miRNAs. Importantly, this framework is not merely descriptive but offers testable predictions: exercise-induced miRNA changes should be dose-dependent, show temporal correlation with behavioral improvements, and be blunted by miRNA-specific antagonists or CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout. Beyond its specific application to ASD, this framework has broader implications. The miR-132/BDNF, miR-34a/Bcl-2, and miR-146a/TLR7 pathways are not ASD-specific but represent fundamental neural stress and repair mechanisms that are dysregulated across Alzheimer’s disease (AD), traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and major depressive disorder. Exercise has been shown to modulate these same miRNAs in several of these conditions, suggesting that the “exercise-miRNA-neural function” axis may represent a conserved neuroprotective mechanism that transcends diagnostic boundaries. Thus, we propose that ASD serves as an ideal model disease for elucidating this universal mechanism, with findings potentially generalizable to other neurological disorders. We also critically evaluate current translational barriers: the near-absence of human clinical trials with serial miRNA profiling; the undefined dose-response relationships between exercise parameters and miRNA expression; the unresolved causality issue (current evidence demonstrates association, not causation); and the uncertain correlation between peripheral exosomal miRNA levels and brain miRNA dynamics. We argue that future research must prioritize CRISPR/Cas9-based miRNA manipulation in animal models combined with longitudinal exercise interventions to establish causality, and that cross-disease validation studies are essential to determine whether exercise-induced miRNA changes represent a shared neuroprotective signature or disease-specific responses. Ultimately, we envision a paradigm where a simple blood test measuring exosomal miR-132, miR-34a, and miR-146a levels could guide personalized exercise prescriptions, enabling precision rehabilitation for individuals with ASD and potentially other neurological conditions.
杨枭,薛亚奇,舒新建,汪艳艳,刘纽.运动通过miR-132/miR-34a/miR-146a改善孤独症谱系障碍的机制框架[J].生物化学与生物物理进展,2026,53(8):2210-2219 YANG Xiao, XUE Ya-Qi, SHU Xin-Jian, WANG Yan-Yan, LIU Niu. A Mechanistic Framework of Exercise-induced Amelioration of Autism Spectrum Disorder via miR-132, miR-34a, and miR-146a[J]. Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics,2026,53(8):2210-2219
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