Emerging tools and techniques that may advance autism research.
Researchers have modified optogenetics — a technique that activates neurons in mouse brains with beams of light — to toggle a gene on or off. They reported the advance 22 August in Nature.
Mutating MeCP2, the gene linked to Rett syndrome, in zebrafish allows researchers to investigate the disorder early in development, according to a study published 16 July in Frontiers in Neural Circuits.
A new method allows researchers to highlight mutations in individual cells without first isolating the cells from the surrounding tissue, according to a study in the August Nature Methods.
Researchers have developed a method to engineer rats so that they lack a certain gene in only select regions of the brain, they report in the July issue of Nature Methods.
A new method, described 5 June in Neuron, allows researchers to tag only those neurons that are active during the following 12-hour time window.
Mice lacking neurexin-1, an autism-linked protein that helps stabilize the junctions between neurons, are highly aggressive, according to a study published 28 June in PLoS One. These mice share a consistent genetic background, which may account for this being the first social deficit seen in mice lacking this protein.
Researchers can increase the power of studies that link genetic variants to autism by factoring in potential subgroups of the disorder, according to a report published 26 June in PLoS One.
A new clinical test for duplications or deletions of chromosomal regions is customized to detect more than 380 known changes, including many that are linked to autism. The method was published 24 June in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A.
A clever new test assesses whether someone with autism can recognize emotions from facial expressions without needing to name them. The test was described in the 26 June issue of Frontiers in Psychology.
Using a portable mat embedded with pressure sensors, researchers have shown that adults with severe autism walk more slowly than controls do. The results were published 20 May in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.
