Sunday, January 7, 2018

Potential new autism drug shows promise in mice


Researchers are hopeful that a new drug may be able to restore an electrical signaling imbalance in the brain found in virtually all forms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Credit: © Lori Werhane / Fotolia
Scientists have performed a successful test of a possible new drug in a mouse model of an autism disorder. The candidate drug, called NitroSynapsin, largely corrected electrical, behavioral and brain abnormalities in the mice.
NitroSynapsin is intended to restore an electrical signaling imbalance in the brain found in virtually all forms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
"This drug candidate is poised to go into clinical trials, and we think it might be effective against multiple forms of autism," said senior investigator Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Hannah and Eugene Step Chair at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), who is also a clinical neurologist caring for patients.
The research, published on today in the journal Nature Communications, was a collaboration involving scientists at the Scintillon Institute; the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine; Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and other institutions. Lipton's fellow senior investigators on the project were Drs. Nobuki Nakanishi and Shichun Tu of the Scintillon Institute in San Diego....read more