From the WSJ (9/14/2012): Changes in the brain caused by autism can be reversed in mice, a new preclinical study showed, opening a potential path to develop a treatment for the incurable disorder.

Roche and the University of Basel's Biozentrum said Friday the study identified a way to reverse a dysfunction in the brain's wiring typically caused by the disorder, which stumps intellectual development and can cause aggressive and anti-social behavior, and becomes evident in early childhood.

Researchers found that reactivating a gene involved in the formation of synapses, or junctions between nerve cells, can scale down the excessive production of a receptor called mGluR1. In some autistic people this gene is not working. Controlling production of the receptor ultimately makes structural defects in the brain--which are typical of autism—disappear.

The study results will be published in the Oct. 5 issue of Science ( http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6100/1301).

For those of you interested in the mGluR1 receptor and how it’s involved in signal transduction between cells, I have included a schematic: