Could autism be reversed with a pill?

04/12/2012

What if autism could be reversed with a pill?

A growing body of research in mice and a handful of people is finding that autism is not a degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s, but a changeable condition, like, say, epilepsy that can potentially be controlled.

A study out Wednesday in the journal Neuron found that medication could correct the health and behavior problems of mice with a genetic condition known to lead to autism in people. The drug, which acts on the synapses, or gaps, between brain cells, reversed a vast range of symptoms often associated with autism -- including hyperactivity, impaired learning and memory, and extreme sensitivity to sounds.
Most surprising, the drug worked on adolescent mice, showing that these symptoms are reversible even after the critical period of early brain development.

“I was thrilled,” said Mark Bear, the MIT neuroscientist who led the research in collaboration with scientists from Roche.

Mice with Rett syndrome normally live about weeks, but given a bone marrow transplant from healthy mice, they live much longer -- at least some of them are still alive nearly a year later, said Noel C. Derecki, the research fellow who led the study at the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia.

Autism is due to brain malfunctions but not brain damage.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/dailydose/2012/04/could-autism-reversed-with-pill/lk78SvP6Dn9qnR0lc3gvIM/index.html