Amygdala and autism’s checkered history
To understand the amygdala’s role in autism, researchers should study its connections with other brain structures and explore its role in development, says Ralph Adolphs.
To understand the amygdala’s role in autism, researchers should study its connections with other brain structures and explore its role in development, says Ralph Adolphs.
Two proteins involved in shuttling other proteins between the outside and inside of a cell show a distinct pattern of expression in autism brains, according to a report published 19 March in Molecular Psychiatry.
By analyzing the expression patterns of nine candidate genes for autism, researchers have identified a population of cells and a select time during fetal development that may be key to the disorder.
Researchers have uncovered a new role for the protein missing in fragile X syndrome — it regulates the release of neurotransmitters, chemical messengers in the brain, according to a mouse study published 20 February in Neuron.
Growing evidence suggests that abnormal connectivity in the brain underlies autism, but conflicting interpretations persist about where and how the dysfunction occurs. How do we investigate the underlying mechanisms of this theory?
Autism may result from reduced anatomical connectivity and functional connectivity between the frontal cortex and more posterior areas of the brain, say Marcel Adam Just and Timothy Keller.
Loss of one copy of 22q11.2 — a chromosomal region linked to schizophrenia and autism — shifts the location of neurons that inhibit brain signals, according to a study published 6 November in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In 2003, John Rubenstein and Michael Merzenich first described the theory, now popular in autism, that the disorder reflects an imbalance between excitation and inhibition in the brain. Takao K. Hensch and Parizad M. Bilimoria review the paper and its impact on the field.
Watch the complete replay of Vikaas Sohal’s webinar on abnormal neural circuits in autism. Submit your own follow-up questions.
A new map highlighting brain circuits finds that regions involved in synthesizing information tend to vary more among people than those that govern sensory and motor functions.