Brain scans find more dopamine receptors in autistic adults

A brain scan is revealing a difference in the dopamine system of autistic adults: researchers in Denmark found higher dopamine D2 receptor availability than in neurotypical participants. The result comes from a study of 60 adults led by the University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital.

The team brought three views of the brain into the same study. Positron emission tomography, or PET, measured dopamine receptors and glucose metabolism—the brain’s energy use—while the researchers also examined communication between brain regions. The combined approach allowed them to look at chemical messaging, energy demand and connectivity together rather than treating them as separate questions.

The pattern was not limited to receptor availability. In certain deep brain regions, autistic participants with more dopamine receptors also showed higher energy use. The researchers further reported that dopamine affected communication between brain regions differently in autistic and neurotypical participants, suggesting that the dopamine system may be more deeply involved in autism than previously thought.

And concretely? The study does not provide a diagnostic test or explain why autism develops. Its immediate value is narrower but useful: it gives researchers a biological pattern to test, and a way to investigate why ADHD so often occurs alongside autism, since dopamine also plays a central role in ADHD. It may help deepen understanding of neurodiversity rather than aim to change autistic people.

The result remains an early research finding. The study is described as the first PET study specifically designed to examine possible differences between autistic men and women, but its authors say larger studies must determine whether the findings hold in other groups and can be replicated.