Using a little-known brain-imaging technique, a new study shows that children with autism have low levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a chemical that keeps brain signals in check.

Watch the complete replay of Vikaas Sohal’s webinar on abnormal neural circuits in autism. Submit your own follow-up questions.

A net decrease in inhibitory signals in the cerebellum may underlie the movement problems seen in the autism-related disorder Angelman syndrome, according to mouse research published 5 December in Science Translational Medicine.

Neurons in mice that model fragile X syndrome show immature, overexcitable firing patterns, particularly during sleep, according to unpublished research presented last week at the Salk Institute, Fondation IPSEN and Nature Symposium on Biological Complexity in La Jolla, California.

Memantine, a drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, can reverse autism-like features in mice lacking one copy of the MEF2C gene, according to a poster presented last week at the Salk Institute, Fondation IPSEN and Nature Symposium on Biological Complexity in La Jolla, California.

A new study bolsters the idea that overactive protein synthesis contributes to autism. The findings, published 21 November in Nature, show that dampening a single overabundant protein, neuroligin-1, reverses both abnormal brain activity and social deficits in mice.

Researchers have homed in on the brain region thought to be responsible for the autism-like symptoms that can accompany Dravet syndrome, a rare epilepsy disorder, according to research published Wednesday in Nature.

Mice lacking a functional copy of UBE3A, the gene missing or mutated in people with the rare developmental disorder Angelman syndrome, show less inhibitory activity than controls do, according to research published 7 June in Neuron.

Individuals with autism are more likely than controls to have small, rare duplications or deletions of stretches of DNA in genes that play a role in dampening signals in the brain, according to a study published 2 April in Molecular Autism.

Mice with an extra copy of MeCP2, the Rett syndrome gene, have impaired signaling between neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in memory, according to a study published 29 February in The Journal of Neuroscience.