Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that begin in infancy. In recent years, the incidence of ASD in the world is increasing year by year. At present, the etiology and pathogenesis of ASD are not clear, and effective treatments are still lacking. In addition to neurobehavioral symptoms, children with ASD often have obvious gastrointestinal symptoms. Gut microbiota is a large microbial community in the human gut, which is closely related to the nervous system and can affect brain development and behavior through the neuroendocrine, neuroimmune and autonomic nervous systems, forming a microbiota-gut-brain axis connection. Recent studies have shown that children with ASD have significant gut microbiota and metabolic disorders, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is expected to improve ASD-related symptoms by regulating gut microbiota and metabolism. This review paper will therefore focus on FMT in the treatment of ASD, and FMT is effective in improving gastrointestinal and neurobehavioral symptoms in children with ASD.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, fecal microbiota transplantation, gastrointestinal symptoms, gut microbiota, microbiota-gut-brain axis