IBS Restores Autism-Linked Neural Function After 4 Weeks, Showing 8-Week Effects in Models
Updated
Updated · asiae.co.kr · Jun 9
IBS Restores Autism-Linked Neural Function After 4 Weeks, Showing 8-Week Effects in Models
3 articles · Updated · asiae.co.kr · Jun 9
Summary
IBS researchers said a glycine-regulating drug restored NMDA receptor activity and improved social and repetitive-behavior deficits in autism mouse models, with benefits also seen in Phelan-McDermid syndrome models.
4 weeks of treatment normalized receptor function, while a single dose lasted more than 8 weeks; synaptic protein function also returned to normal, the team said.
Human cerebral organoids engineered with autism-related gene mutations showed the same recovery of impaired NMDA receptor function after treatment, extending the findings beyond mice.
Adult mouse models also responded, challenging the view that autism-related brain dysfunction cannot be improved after development and pointing to a potential route toward treating core symptoms.
The work, published in Nature Communications, targets the Slc6a20a glycine transporter as a way to address NMDA receptor hypofunction, a leading theory of autism onset.