Scientists looking to uncover the origins of autism have made a discovery by growing a group of miniature “proto-brains’ in a lab using reprogrammed skin cells to rewind the brain to the early days of development. This is a big step with such small “brains” and can potential lead to big discoveries in autism, which is a complex disorder.
The organoids that the scientists created are composed of embryonic brain cells that are smaller than one-tenth of an inch across. The scientists behind the research were able to watch an autistic brain that is in development. They found that the brain overproduces brain cells that are supposed to quiet the cacophony of neural activities in the brain.
THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT COMPARED TWO BRAINS
The results were compared to a normally developing brain and it showed that the brain development of a child who will develop autism has an imbalance of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. According to a Yale physician, this is the small, but powerful difference that could lead to the pinpointing of at least a little bit of the problems that lead to autism’s behavioral symptoms.
BEGINNING CELLS ARE MADE TO LOOK LIKE THOSE FROM EMBRYOS
Researchers used new laboratory methods that have been proven to make skin cells revert to a different form like those that are taken from embryos. They then nudged the resulting stem cells to begin the process of building a brain and then incubated the result for a month.
SCIENTISTS WERE ABLE TO FIND AND CORRECT A SINGLE GENE’S ABNORMAL PROGRESSION
When the researchers suppressed a single gene that is abnormally active in organoids created from patients with autism, they were able to fix the imbalance between neurons that quiet the cellular impulses, and those that increase them.
RESEARCH MEANS QUICK DIAGNOSIS AND FAST TREATMENT
This is a big step to a faster diagnosis and treatment of autism than before. It is possible that while a baby is still in utero, or shortly after birth, autism can be diagnosed and treated. The research and results from this study is making the focus on developing treatments more precise.
This research was published in the Cell journal.
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Mini Brain From Skin Cells Sheds Light on Autism
