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A distinct region of the social brain is activated when viewing interactions between two people, according to unpublished research presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.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.
Researchers have charted the normal development of what’s known as the social brain from childhood to young adulthood, according to research presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
The hormone oxytocin modulates molecular pathways associated with autism in gut cells, according to unpublished research presented Saturday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
The sperm of old mice has an unusual epigenome, the profile of chemical modifications to the underlying DNA code, according to a poster presented Saturday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans. The findings suggest an explanation for the so-called paternal age effect in autism.
People with Phelan-McDermid syndrome, which causes severe intellectual disability and is often accompanied by autism, also have a blunted response to pain. New research on a mouse model of the syndrome, presented at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, aims to find out why.
A small pilot study suggests that the drug propranolol, typically used to treat hypertension and anxiety, enhances functional connectivity between brain regions and improves verbal fluency, according to research presented Saturday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.