Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 123438
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123438
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123438
Muscle-brain endocrine axis in autism spectrum disorder: Mechanisms, evidence, and research priorities
Rui-Yin Guo, Department of Basic Courses, Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan 250200, Shandong Province, China
Wen-Cong Geng, School of Marxism (Public Teaching Department), Linyi City Vocational College, Linyi 276017, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Guo RY conceptualized the review, designed the review framework, drafted the manuscript, and prepared the figures and tables; Geng WC contributed to the literature search, evidence organization, and critical revision of the manuscript. Both authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: ChatGPT by OpenAI was used only for language editing, wording refinement, grammar checking, and editorial polishing. The tool was not used to generate scientific content, conduct literature analysis, prepare references, create figures or tables, perform data analysis, or conduct statistical analysis. All scientific interpretations, conclusions, and final manuscript decisions were reviewed and verified by the authors.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Rui-Yin Guo, Lecturer, Department of Basic Courses, Qilu Institute of Technology, No. 3028 Jingshi East Road, Jinan 250200, Shandong Province, China.
Received: May 20, 2026
Revised: July 18, 2026
Accepted: August 20, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 144 Days and 5.4 Hours
Revised: July 18, 2026
Accepted: August 20, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 144 Days and 5.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This review evaluates skeletal muscle-brain communication as a hypothesis-generating framework for autism spectrum disorder. It distinguishes autism-specific evidence from mechanistic findings derived from other disease models, addresses the brain-derived neurotrophic factor paradox, and emphasizes that the proposed links among irisin, interleukin-6, neuroplasticity, neuroinflammation, metabolism, and stress regulation vary substantially in evidential strength. Current data do not justify biomarker-guided exercise prescriptions or myokine-targeted therapy in clinical practice. Instead, the framework identifies testable mechanisms, major translational gaps, and priorities for stratified randomized trials.