Thoughts on Newtown
12 years ago
My life mothering a child on the autism spectrum
CADPS2 (also called CAPS2) encodes a protein that regulates the trafficking and release, or exocytosis, of vesicles containing cargo such as neurotrophic factors, which influence brain cell maturation and survival. To determine whether the absence of CADPS2 influences autism development, the researchers generated mice carrying a disrupted version of CADPS2.
The mutant mice exhibited normal visual, auditory, olfactory and motor function, all of which are normal in autistic patients. [EDITOR'S NOTE: I am astonished to read this. In my experience, most autistic children are impaired in at least some of these functions. I don't see how this is consistent with the sensory processing component of autism. Surely most of us have experience these issues in our children?] However, like autistic humans, CADPS2-deficient mice engaged in fewer social interactions with other mice, displayed heightened anxiety and reduced exploration in unfamiliar environments, and were hyperactive even in familiar surroundings.
Absence of CADPS2 resulted in cellular defects mirroring those frequently observed in the brains of autistic patients, such as reduced development and impaired survival of certain varieties of brain cells including some GABAergic interneurons and cerebellar Purkinje cells. Provision of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein found in CADPS2-associated vesicles in normal mice, rectified these cellular abnormalities.