The first study to look at mitochondria — the powerhouses of the cell — in postmortem brain tissue taken from children with autism has found significant abnormalities in their function in some regions of the brain.
Studies of healthy infants may help identify early risk factors for autism by establishing new developmental milestones.
The new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) won’t be published for another two years, but changes proposed to the diagnostic criteria for autism are already sparking heated debate.
Mice that lack the gene for integrin β3, or ITGB3 — which regulates the levels of serotonin in the blood — groom themselves frequently and show less interest in stranger mice compared with controls, according to a study published in February in Autism Research as part of a special issue on mouse models in autism.
Teenagers with autism are less efficient at rapidly shifting their eye gaze — an indicator of motor ability — compared with either typically developing controls or adolescents with Asperger syndrome, according to a study published in November in Cerebellum.
The goal of studying siblings of children with autism is to identify an early diagnostic marker for the disorder. What researchers are finding instead are distinct traits shared by family members who remain healthy.
Cells drawn from a small sample of children with autism show defects in the functioning of their mitochondria — structures that produce energy to power cellular functions — according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Young children with autism have high urine levels of a compound that is likely to be a product of gut bacteria, according to a poster presented Tuesday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
New research shows that behavioral intervention at a young age can improve language and social skills in some children with autism — and that parents may be the best therapists.
People with autism may belong to one of four distinct categories based on their medical history, according to a study published in the October Autism Research.