The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s investigation comes after a study showed prenatal exposure to topiramate roughly triples a child’s likelihood of having autism or intellectual disability.
Angie Voyles Askham, Spectrum | Feb 17, 2022 | 4 min read
A study shows that a molecule produced by intestinal microbes can enter the brain and that its presence is also associated with altered brain connectivity.
In both a mouse model and the hospital records of more than 3 million children, researchers found a connection between strong immune activation in males and later symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky | Feb 11, 2021 | 3 min read
The review of more than two dozen studies finds aripiprazole has side effects and does not change core autism features, but parents report improvements in self-injury, tantrums, and other challenging behaviors.
Aripiprazole, marketed as Abilify, is widely thought to be safer than risperidone, the only other drug approved for use in autistic children. A decade’s worth of data suggests that is not true.
Signaling imbalance, driven by too much excitatory activity, may be a consequence of whatever brain changes lead to autism rather than a cause of the condition.
Contrary to prior evidence, a study finds receptor density is the same among people without and without the disorder, although GABA signaling still appears to be impaired.