Skip to main content

Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: macrocephaly

February 2013

Researchers carve out map of rodent brain

by  /  13 February 2013

Researchers have divided the rat brain into 26 structures that are present from birth to adulthood and that can be seen using brain imaging, according to a study published 15 February in Neuroimage.

Comments
December 2012

Clinical research: Larger brains in autism, fragile X

by  /  19 December 2012

Young boys with fragile X syndrome or autism have larger brains overall than controls do, but the two groups show enlargement of different parts of the brain, according to an imaging study published in September in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Comments
November 2012

Genetics: Deletion of 16p11.2 region has variable effects

by  /  14 November 2012

The loss of a 600-kilobase region on chromosome 16 leads to intellectual disability, obesity, a large head and, sometimes, autism, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics.

Comments
October 2012

Molecular mechanisms: Immune molecule boosts brain size

by  /  23 October 2012

Mice with elevated levels of the immune molecule interleukin-6 have abnormally large brains, according to a study published 23 August in the International Journal of Neuroscience.

Comments

Mouse model links autism risk gene to mitochondria

by  /  11 October 2012

A new mouse model provides the first molecular link between the known autism risk gene PTEN and the mitochondrial dysfunction sometimes seen in the disorder. Mice with half the normal amount of PTEN protein in their brains have social deficits reminiscent of autism and faulty mitochondria, according to a study published 10 August in PLoS One.

Comments
July 2012

Maternal antibodies may affect brain size in autism

by  /  12 July 2012

The action of certain maternal antibodies on the fetal brain may underlie the large brain size seen in some children with autism, according to preliminary findings from both monkey and human studies presented at a conference in Boston last week.

Comments
June 2012
Concept illustration of damaged DNA with small pieces missing

Genetics: Deletions in neurexin-1 linked to seizures

by  /  27 June 2012

Deletions in the second half of the autism-linked gene neurexin-1 are associated with seizures and large head size, according to a study published 23 May in the European Journal of Human Genetics.

Comments
May 2012

Autism gene PTEN plays vital role in neural stem cells

by  /  31 May 2012

Knocking out an autism-linked gene called PTEN only in neural stem cells of the hippocampus, a brain region central to learning and memory, throws the development of new neurons off course in adult mice, according to research published last month in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Comments

In autism, head growth patterns vary by gender

by  /  24 May 2012

Girls diagnosed with autism have slower brain growth in the first year of their life than typically developing children, whereas boys’ brains grow at the same rate as those of typical children, according to a population-based study in Norway.

Comments

Fish study links chromosome 16 genes to head size

by  /  17 May 2012

By creating genetically engineered fish, two independent groups have identified genes in an autism hotspot on chromosome 16 that influence head size and brain development. 

Comments