Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifaceted neurodevelopmental disorder distinguished with behavioral disability which has diverse causative factors. It is extensively acknowledged that interaction with genetic, environmental, epigenetics, and lifestyle factors contribute to ASD. Growing pieces of evidences shows that any changes in the epigenetic process plays a major role in the onset of ASD pathophysiology. In this regard, this review is directed towards unraveling maternal and prenatal factors such as maternal age, obesity, dietary nutrients, etc. that may act up on epigenetic mechanisms such as any changes in DNA methylation or histone acetylation could be a probable etiological influencer for ASD. In this review, we discuss the impact of maternal factors such as maternal age, obesity, hormonal imbalances, and dietary nutrients on the developing fetus, as any problems in these factors especially during gestation are associated with higher risk of ASD. Further, this review examines the potential role of these factors on the epigenetic modifications on the developing embryo and its possible role as a etiology for ASD. However, more work in this front of epigenetics is still required, but according to various earlier studies has showed that better understanding of these epigenetic process will help us to prevent ASD.
