A popular method that neuroscientists use to simulate the effects of a mutation may alter the brain and produce misleading results, cautions a study published 18 June in Neuron.

Reports of a century-old drug that reverses autism-like symptoms in mice raise key questions about the complexity of translating promising research into real treatments.

Mice that begin expressing a mutant version of a protein called neurexin at 2 weeks of age develop autism-like behaviors that researchers can erase weeks or months later. The report, published 24 July in Cell Reports, suggests that it may be possible to treat autism symptoms even in adulthood.

Mutations in a gene linked to intellectual disability and sometimes autism may lead to a permanent boost in brain activity, according to a study published 18 June in Neuron.

A “beautiful” new study traces a complex repetitive behavior in a mouse model of autism to a subset of neurons in one brain region.

Mice with older fathers have different gene expression patterns in their brains than do mice with younger fathers, reports a study published 23 March in Molecular Autism. Many of the differences involve genes linked to autism.

The protein missing in fragile X syndrome is necessary for mice to respond to the stimulant cocaine, according to a study published 7 May in Neuron.

A single dose of a drug used to treat African sleeping sickness temporarily improves symptoms of autism in a mouse model, according to a study published last week in Translational Psychiatry.

A large international consortium is creating and characterizing thousands of mouse mutants, each of which lacks a single gene in the genome. The first 300 of these mutants are expected to be available later this month.

Two new rat models of autism don’t roughhouse like normal rats do, and show some compulsive behaviors, according to a study published in April in Behavioral Neuroscience. The models underscore the advantage rats have over mice in modeling complex social behaviors.