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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: dendrites

July 2023
Research image of neurons.

Abundant motor proteins disrupt cries in FOXP2 mice

by ,  /  28 July 2023

Knocking down the gene that codes for the proteins normalizes the vocalizations.

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June 2023
Image of three developing axons.

Autism’s ties to the cell skeleton

by  /  22 June 2023

Many genes related to the condition play a role in the internal scaffolding of cells, and cytoskeletal disruptions can affect neurodevelopment and behavior.

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March 2023
Still from research video displaying wiring map of a fruit fly's brain.

Wiring map reveals how larval fruit fly brain converts sensory signals to movement

by  /  9 March 2023

The map diagrams more than half a million neuronal connections in the first complete connectome of Drosophila and holds clues about which brain architectures best support learning.

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February 2023
an image of a neuron

Neurons struggle to spike without fragile X gene

by  /  17 February 2023

FMR1 loss impairs sodium channels, hindering mouse neurons from generating the electrical signals needed to transmit information.

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December 2022
Neural progenitor cells in a culture medium, color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph (SEM).

Autism subgroups converge on cell growth pathway

by  /  5 December 2022

Faulty mTOR signaling, implicated in syndromic forms of autism, also hinders cells grown from people with idiopathic autism or autism-linked deletions on chromosome 16.

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June 2022
A computer-rendered analysis of neurons

Autism-linked mutation disrupts brain circuit to change social behavior

by  /  24 June 2022

Therapies that target the circuit could boost social activity, new findings suggest.

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Two top autism-linked proteins connect to build cell ‘skeleton’

by  /  9 June 2022

ADNP and SHANK3 proteins may bind together and alter a neuron’s internal scaffold, hinting at a mechanism that, when disrupted, may underlie several forms of autism.

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March 2022
Micrograph of neuron dendrite segments.

Maternal sleep apnea may contribute to autism-like traits in rats

by  /  18 March 2022

Pups born to mothers that experience low oxygen during sleep have overactive mTOR signaling, which has been linked to some forms of autism.

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November 2021
Three mice sniffing each other.

Reversing mutations in top autism-linked gene makes adult mice more social

by  /  10 November 2021

Treatments that counteract the effects of an SCN2A mutation in mice increase the animals’ sociability in adulthood, according to a new unpublished study.

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April 2021
Colorful RNA in mouse brain slice

Tissue-swelling method divulges RNA locations, sequences in cells

by  /  28 April 2021

A technique that expands tissue before spotting and sequencing RNA — the molecular messenger for DNA — enables researchers to see where particular genes are expressed in cells.

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