Autism Reversed in Mice at MIT Lab

ClayTapes writes "It seems that scientists at MIT have been able to reverse the effects of autism and some forms of mental retardation in mice caused by fragile X chromosomes. They do so by targeting an enzyme that changes the structure of connections between brain cells. The treatment actually repairs these structural abnormalities which suggests that it may be possible to reverse the effects in children who already show symptoms."

Comments

Mental stability

[steveo777]

I've known a few autistic people growing up. Either through school, church, or friends. And I have to wonder. With all the support, drugs and training that goes into helping these people live 'normal' lives... what would happen if this gene therapy could cure adults? I'm well aware that this treatment is far from being used on any human, and I'm all for curing disease, so don't get me wrong. But will some one just wake up and feel 'free'? Or will it take time for them to get used to thinking 'normally'?

Maybe the answer is just as simple as 'cured'. But something tells me that it will never be that simple.

Re:Definitely

[sjames]

What I really wonder about is the converse. How many highly useful (in humans) drugs have been abandoned at an early stage because they had no effect on mice.

It's interesting that LSD was thought to have little more than a very mild stimulant effect (and had been abandoned in favor of more promising lysergic acid compounds) until Hoffman got some of it on him and took the first acid trip. Apparently either it's not all that apparent when a mouse is tripping or mice don't trip.

He was looking for a better medication to stop uterine bleeding.

See this.

I wonder what other "uninteresting" substances have been ignored because they don't happen to have any effect on humans in microgram doses and don't effect mice in any dosage.

Unfortunatly, there's no much of a solution to that since we can't have people randomly ingesting chemical experiments just to see.