Childhood disintegrative disorder represents a distinct entity within the autism spectrum and it should remain a separate diagnostic category, says Kevin Pelphrey.

Researchers have mapped networks of genes expressed at the same time and place in the brain and shown that rare and common autism-linked mutations are likely to function in the same pathways. The results were published 8 March in PLoS Genetics.

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.

Rather than a tangled bowl of spaghetti, the neural wiring in the brain is arranged in an orderly fashion, like a woven piece of cloth, according to research published today in the journal Science.

Researchers have generated neurons from the blood cells of individuals with autism, according to a study published 7 March in Neuroscience Letters.

Age-related changes to the mirror neuron system — a pathway thought to be involved in empathy — are no different in individuals with autism compared with controls, according to a meta-analysis published 1 February in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. The results challenge previous reports that suggest deficits in the mirror neuron system diminish with age in individuals with autism.

Two large-scale neuroscience projects aim to integrate many different types of information about the brain into cohesive models and to share resources with the research community. 

A bone marrow transplant from healthy mice to those lacking the MeCP2 protein, which causes Rett syndrome, extends lifespan and alleviates symptoms of the disorder, according to research published online 18 March in Nature.

Adults with autism have regional differences in brain volume in areas that play a role in social behavior and communication compared with controls, according to a large study published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. The differences correlate with the severity of autism symptoms, the study also shows.

A detailed brain imaging study of people with Williams syndrome, a developmental disorder characterized by a highly sociable personality, has found a series of structural, functional and connectivity deficits that converge on a part of the brain called the insula. The findings were published online 12 March in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.