Anterior Cingulate Cortex as Therapeutic Target for Autism Yunqing Zhu
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which social deficits is one of the core symptoms. However, there is currently no effective treatment targeting this symptom. In the study by Guo et al. (2019), the author used Shank3 knockout mice as animal model for autism, and observed the structural and functional changes in the anterior cingulate cortex. They found that Shank3 mutations caused morphological and functional change in pyramidal neurones of the region, and led to social deficits (Guo et al. 2019). They then enhanced the pyramidal neurone activity in anterior cingulate cortex using optogenetics, chemogenetics and a pharmacological compound, and were able to rescue the social impairments (Guo et al. 2019). These findings provide a causal link between hypoactivity of the anterior cingulate cortex and social impairments in autism, and proves that the area could be a potential therapeutic target (Guo et al. 2019).
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