Neurons with too many synapses in the cerebral cortex: this is the cause of a particular form of autism as confirmed by an exceptional discovery, published in the journal Nature Communications, by a team of researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology (Iit) of Rovereto and 'University of Pisa.
The study may guide the development of future drug treatments to restore these alterations in neurons.
Specifically, the scholars, led by Alessandro Gozzi, Coordinator of the Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems of the IIT in Rovereto, Michael Lombardo, of the Iit, and Massimo Pasqualetti, of the University of Pisa, have identified a dysfunction that concerns the neurons of a brain area responsible for communication: they have an excessive number of synapses, or those microscopic protuberances that are used to send and receive signals between neurons.
The observation in animal models, using magnetic resonance, has shown that this alteration is associated with a malfunction of the molecular mechanism of the mTOR protein, responsible for the regulation and production of synapses, and potential target for pharmacological treatments.
Researchers have shown that when its activity is blocked pharmacologically, the number of synapses returns to physiological levels, completely restoring the correct functionality of the brain circuits involved. Starting from these results, the scholars have also taken a further step forward, identifying who is affected by this specific form of autism among all those affected by autism spectrum disorders. To do this, they compared their data with those from brain magnetic resonance databases of people with autism, and through artificial intelligence systems they identified a subgroup of patients with brain connectivity dysfunctions, similar to those found in mice, and simultaneously analyzed genetics revealed an anomaly in the mTOR protein.
(Unioneonline / vl)
