Mice lacking one copy of the autism-linked 16p11.2 chromosomal region are thin, deaf and show repetitive behaviors. They also have altered proportions of neurons in their brains, particularly those that express the chemical messenger dopamine. The unpublished results were presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
Many researchers have reported atypical brain connectivity in people with autism lying passively in a brain scanner. But those differences may be the result of what participants are thinking about, rather than of an underlying neural defect, according to a poster presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
The wobbly handwriting of many children with autism may reflect differences in their brains’ motor and working memory systems, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
Mouse studies of a promising treatment for Rett syndrome, already in clinical trials, offer a note of caution about the drug’s potential. Preliminary findings from the research, presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans, show why mouse work remains important even after clinical trials are underway.
In a video interview at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans, Stewart Mostofsky discusses the links between social and motor skills.
Researchers are testing a wealth of new treatments for fragile X syndrome, an inherited intellectual disability often accompanied by autism. They presented preliminary results from animal studies of several drugs, as well as an automated approach for screening compounds, Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
The anxiety drug diazepam, commonly marketed as Valium, reverses deficits in sensory integration in a mouse model of autism, according to research presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
In a video interview, Simon Fisher discusses what language genes such as FOXP2 can reveal about the nature of autism.
A distinct region of the social brain is activated when viewing interactions between two people, according to unpublished research presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
Individually, common genetic variants confer little risk for autism. But taken together, they may contribute significantly, predicts a statistical analysis published 15 October in Molecular Autism.