Children and adolescents with autism have a surplus of synapses in the brain, and this excess is due to a slowdown in a normal brain "pruning" process during development, according to a study by neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Because synapses are the points where neurons connect and communicate with each other, the excessive synapses may have profound effects on how the brain functions. The study was published in the August 21 online issue of the journal Neuron.
A drug that restores normal synaptic pruning can improve autistic-like behaviors in mice, the researchers found, even when the drug is given after the behaviors have appeared.
Although the drug, rapamycin, has side effects that may preclude its use in people with autism, "the fact that we can see changes in behavior suggests that autism may still be treatable after a child is diagnosed, if we can find a better drug," said the study's senior investigator, David Sulzer, PhD, professor of neurobiology in the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Pharmacology at CUMC.
Okay a few things-
This drug shuts down excessive mTor activity.
mTor is very highly associated with the immune reaction to infection. If you are making a lot of it, you are probably infected.
Unfortunately, if you're systemically infected, the dendritic cells in the immune system work on fighting that rather than doing maintenance on your brain...
And the stress hormones keep autistics from sleeping properly which is when synaptic pruning takes place.
Rapamycin is a naturally derived antibiotic, antifungal and immunosuppressant commonly used to prevent rejection in organ or bone-marrow transplant patients.
This whole pathway is diet and infection related. They don't need to find a new drug, they need to change their priorities.
