Data from a study published in the British Journal of Anesthesiology suggests that use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl could have a part in causing autism-like behaviors in young children.
The mechanism of action, which was studied in mice, is the downregulation of Grin2b expression—the gene encoding the GluN2B subunit of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (Br J Anaesth 2022;129[4]:544-554. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2022.04.027).
This finding is of concern because of the prevalent use of fentanyl