Exorphin

Exorphins are exogenous opioid peptides, distinguished from endorphins (or endogenous opioid peptides).

Exorphins include opioid food peptides like Gluten exorphin and microbial opioid peptides and any other opioid peptide foreign to a host that have metabolic efficacy for that host.

Connection and Treatment of Autism

Due to the low treat-ability of Autism, experiments were carried out to determine if consumption of various Exorphin enzymes can improve the symptoms of the disease. According to the Exorphin theory, generally an increase in level of Exorphin is linked to symptoms of autism. Therefore, there are Autism therapy that aims to treat the symptoms by removing Exorphin from the system. One way this was done through digesting large amount of peptidase. Another possibility is to allow the promotion of one's own stomachs acid to digest Exorphin. The reason for this approach is because it was deemed near impossible to avoid Exorphin in one's system due to dietary consumption. Several other techniques in treating Autism are also based around promoting the digestion of Exorphin to prevent its absorption.

Connection with Schizophrenia

Exorphin can cause various symptoms of Schizophrenia if mutation occurs at a few selected loci. Genetic mutation at one of these loci can lead to increased absorption of Exorphin via receptor mediated endocytosis. Another possibility from these particular loci is that catabolization of Exorphin can be disrupted thus allowing Exorphin to persist in the body. This would lead to Exorphin entering the brain capillary, bypassing the blood brain barrier, and inflicting negative repercussion onto the brain. This does not mean that Exorphin will necessarily cause Schizophrenia as susceptibility to the disease is dependent on an individual's genetic makeup. However, by increasing the probability that Exorphin enters the brain, it will also increase the chance of an individual displaying Schizophrenic symtpoms.