Autism treatment

Peter Penzes, PhD, the Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, of Neuroscience, of Pharmacology and director of the Center for ...

Through advanced brain imaging, they found that the drug improved neuroplasticity, behavior impairments and cellular processes in the mices’ brains. The earlier one could intervene, the better. Phelan-McDermid syndrome is known to be caused by a specific genetic mutation in SHANK3, a well-known ASD candidate gene. have been diagnosed with ASD and each patient presents diverse clinical and developmental symptoms, which may include delayed speech, motor skills and learning skills, epilepsy, poor eating and sleeping habits, and gastrointestinal issues. These changes were directly correlated with improvements in the mices’ learning and memory skills, motor function and communication through ultrasonic vocalizations, findings that could be translated to social behaviors in humans, according to Penzes. [Peter Penzes, PhD](https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/faculty-profiles/az/profile.html?xid=16355), the Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the [Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment](https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/autism-neurodevelopment/), has developed a new therapy that could treat Phelan-McDermid syndrome, a subtype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to findings [published](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01904-0) in Molecular Psychiatry.