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1 week ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Calli McMurray |Jill Adams |Holly Barker |Charles Choi
Twenty mouse models of autism can be sorted into two subtypes based on functional connectivity across the entire brain, a new preprint reports. The subtypes reflect changes in different molecular pathways and map on to nearly one-quarter of autistic people represented in a large dataset.
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1 week ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Calli McMurray |Benjamin Young |Jill Adams |Mark Humphries
Olfactory neuroscientists have known for a while that their stimuli stink. In many experiments, lab animals inhale puffs of a single strong odorant for only a few seconds at a time, an experience that “likely bears little resemblance—either in concentration or in form—to the ways in which animals naturalistically interact with odors,” says Sandeep Robert Datta, professor of neurobiology at Harvard University.
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3 weeks ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Holly Barker |Jill Adams |Charles Choi
Genetic changes that damage PTEN, a gene strongly linked to autism, cause a buildup of brain fluid by prompting neural stem cells to proliferate and block a channel that drains the ventricles, a new mouse study finds. Loss of PTEN protein—a key regulator of cell division—also drives a surplus of inhibitory interneurons that impairs cortical function in mice. Blocking the signaling pathway underlying this proliferation decreases these brain changes in mice, the study shows.
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3 weeks ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Jill Adams |Chloe Williams
Overlapping concerns: Autism traits and emotional and behavioral concerns relate in different ways over time in autistic boys versus autistic girls, according to a new study. How these concerns and traits overlap and interact may inform support and intervention strategies for children between the ages of 2 and 12.
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3 weeks ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Laura Dattaro |Lauren Schenkman |Jill Adams
The goal of publishing careful replications—and, humbly, of this newsletter—is to gain a more accurate scientific picture of reality. Adhering closely to original methodologies and reporting all results are key, but often overlooked, steps in this process. Enter preregistration, a process whereby researchers publish their intended methods before they begin their experiments, enabling the research community to evaluate how and why any subsequent deviations occurred.
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4 weeks ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Giorgia Guglielmi |Jill Adams |Chloe Williams |Holly Barker
A newly developed statistical tool offers a way to control for unmeasured confounding factors in investigations of the downstream effects of autism-linked variants. Researchers describe the tool, called causarray, in a preprint posted on bioRxiv last month.
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4 weeks ago | 
thetransmitter.org | RJ Mackenzie |Angie Voyles Askham |Jill Adams |Claudia Lopez Lloreda
New footage documents microglia pruning synapses at high resolution and in real time. The recordings, published in January, add a new twist to a convoluted debate about the range of these cells’ responsibilities. Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells. For about a decade, some have also credited them with pruning excess synaptic connections during early brain development.
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1 month ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Jill Adams |Chloe Williams |Katie Moisse
Multipurpose tool: The U.S. National Institutes of Health has announced that its NIH Baby Toolbox is now available as an iPad app. It contains more than 30 assessment tools to cover broad areas of development, including cognition, social-emotional function and motor skills. The app uses eye-tracking and touch-based inputs in addition to clinician and parent reports. Data can be viewed as raw scores or in relation to nationwide age-adjusted averages.
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1 month ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Chloe Williams |Jill Adams |Katie Moisse |Angie Voyles Askham
Changes in gene regulation and expression precede alterations in neuronal function and behavior in mice lacking MECP2, the gene implicated in Rett syndrome, according to a new study. The findings shed light on the cascade of events that occur when MECP2 is lost and suggest gene expression changes likely lead to the neuronal and behavioral characteristics of the condition, the researchers say. Rett syndrome is a rare condition, usually caused by variants in MECP2.
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1 month ago | 
thetransmitter.org | Jill Adams |Katie Moisse |Angie Voyles Askham |Charles Choi
Noise cancellation: Mice that carry autism-linked variants of the SCN2A gene show changes in neuronal activity that correlate with observed changes in sociability, according to a preprint. Mechanistically, the excitation-inhibition ratio was boosted in SCN2A-deficient neurons, creating a noisy background for social signals, the researchers found.
