“We have provided perhaps the first evidence that acceleration of certain neural milestones is just as disruptive as delay in the same milestones<\/strong>,” says senior study author Gavin Rumbaugh of Scripps Florida. “These studies have far-reaching implications for how we will treat these severe forms of neurodevelopmental disorders.”<\/p>\n Autism spectrum disorders are often accompanied by intellectual disability, and these disorders are linked to harmful mutations that affect proteins responsible for regulating the communication between neurons. A deficiency in one of these proteins, known as SynGAP, can lead to severe forms of these disorders<\/strong>, but it has not been clear how mutations affecting this protein alter the development of brain circuits and behavior.<\/p>\n To answer this question, Rumbaugh and his team inactivated one copy of the SYNGAP1 gene in mice to cause a deficiency in the protein. By two weeks of age, these mice showed a dramatic and premature increase in the communication between neurons in the hippocampus\u2014a critical brain region for learning and memory<\/strong>. As a result, the mice were hyperactive, showed learning deficits, and were prone to seizures, similar to human patients.<\/p>\n These behavioral and cognitive abnormalities persisted even after the researchers restored normal levels of SynGAP in adult mice, suggesting that this protein exerts its effects on cognitive maturation only during a narrow developmental window. Thus, mutations that affect SYNGAP1 can cause neural networks to become miswired early in development and to resist repair during adulthood.<\/p>\n “Our results imply that very early intervention is essential in certain neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly for cognitive symptoms<\/strong>,” Rumbaugh says. “We believe that certain pharmacological or genetic treatments initiated in this sensitive developmental window will greatly benefit our model mice, and hence could be translated into patients.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n http:\/\/www.therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/substance_abuse.jpg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Cell Press press release via EurekAlert!: Neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders are marked by mutations that impair signaling between neurons. These mutations cause… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[71,72,42,18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8204,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions\/8204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Neuron.jpg\")
Neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders are marked by mutations that impair signaling between neurons<\/strong>. These mutations cause key brain circuits involved in learning and memory to develop too quickly, leading to long-lasting behavioral and cognitive deficits, according to a study published by Cell Press in the November 9th issue of the journal Cell<\/em>. The findings could pave the way to new treatment strategies for severe forms of neurodevelopmental disorders.<\/p>\n