More “nodes” in the brains of young people with autism – NU.nl

Normally disappears over half of these so-called synapses at the end of childhood through a process of pruning is called.

For young people with autism, however, ‘pruned’ average only 16 percent of these brain connections .

is reported by researchers from Columbia University in the scientific journal Neuron .

Deceased

The scientists studied the brains of thirteen young people with autism who were deceased at an age between 13 and 20 years.

For comparison, the brains examined twenty deceased young people who did not have autism.

The difference in the number of synapses, at the end of the childhood, was, according to the principal investigator David Sulver very striking. “It is the first time that someone has discovered during the development of children with autism lack of pruning,” he explains on the news from Columbia University.

“Although people usually think that new brain connections to be formed when we learn something, the disposal of unused synapses probably just as important.”

Medicine

Many synapses in the brain of autistic youth likely to remain unaffected because an overactive protein interferes with the name mTOR the “pruning” process.

Studies in mice with a form autism showed that pruning can be fueled by the to administer the production of mTOR suppress animals. medications Many autistic behavior of the animals disappeared as a result of the treatment.

It is still unclear whether a similar type of drug could also work in humans. But scientists hope that a similar treatment can ever be used to suppress it.

certain symptoms of autism