Restoring excitation-inhibition balance in a mouse model of autism; and more

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. The GABA-receptor agonist clonazepam, which can restore the balance of excitatory and inhibitory neural activity, mitigated both neuronal and behavioral changes in a manner similar to restoring SCN2A expression. bioRxiv

More autism research we spotted:

• “Cell-type-specific roles of FOXP1 in the excitatory neuronal lineage during early neocortical murine development” Cell Reports

• “TSC2 loss in neural progenitor cells suppresses mRNA translation of neurodevelopmental genes” Brain
• “Alexithymia may explain the genetic relationship between autism and sensory sensitivity” Translational Psychiatry
  See also: “How an understudied trait has skewed autism studies for decades”
• “Autism gene variants disrupt enteric neuron migration and cause gastrointestinal dysmotility” Nature Communications
• “Haploinsufficiency of ITSN1 is associated with a substantial increased risk of Parkinson’s disease” Cell Reports
  See also: “The search for a link between autism and neurodegenerative conditions”
• “Perirhinal cortex abnormalities impair hippocampal plasticity and learning in SCN2A, FMR1, and CDKL5 autism mouse models” Science Advances