Researchers have developed a new test that reveals complex repetitive behaviors in BTBR mice, a mouse strain with features resembling those of autism, according to a study published 27 August in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods.
A virus that ferries healthy copies of the Rett syndrome gene across the blood-brain barrier can reverse symptoms in female mice that model the disorder, according to a report published 21 August in the Journal of Neuroscience. The approach is the closest yet to simulating a workable treatment for the autism-related disorder.
Researchers have modified optogenetics — a technique that activates neurons in mouse brains with beams of light — to toggle a gene on or off. They reported the advance 22 August in Nature.
People with autism and those with duplications of the 15q11-13 chromosomal region share a distinctive pattern of gene expression in the brain, according to unpublished research presented Friday at the Dup15q Alliance Scientific Meeting in Sacramento, California.
Mice that express elevated levels of an autism-linked gene in the nucleus of neurons show social and communication problems, according to unpublished research presented Thursday at the Dup15q Alliance Scientific Meeting in Sacramento, California.
Watch the complete replay of Benjamin Philpot discussing the possibility of pharmacologically turning on a silent gene to treat Angelman syndrome. Submit follow-up questions.
Researchers have developed a method to engineer rats so that they lack a certain gene in only select regions of the brain, they report in the July issue of Nature Methods.
Spending a month in a stimulating cage filled with wheels and toys alleviates repetitive grooming in a mouse model of autism, according to a study published 28 June in Autism Research.
A new method, described 5 June in Neuron, allows researchers to tag only those neurons that are active during the following 12-hour time window.
The autism-linked protein MET is expressed at the junctions between neurons during early brain development in mice, suggesting that it helps establish the connections, according to a study published 21 June in The Journal of Comparative Neurology.