Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Autism breakthrough: Researchers identify possible drug for impaired sociability

Dan Shuman - Eastern Virginia Medical School researchers have identified a potential novel treatment strategy for the social impairment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), an aspect of the condition that has a profound impact on quality of life.

"Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders are either disinterested in social interactions or find them unpleasant. They often don't understand what other people are thinking or feeling and misinterpret social cues," said Stephen I. Deutsch, MD, PhD, the Ann Robinson Chair and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "Sadly, persons with autism spectrum disorders are often painfully aware of their limited sociability, which can lead to profound feelings of sadness and frustration."

As part of their research, EVMS scientists verified that a specific mouse strain, known as the BALB/c mouse, is a valid animal model of the limited sociability seen in persons with ASD. In the presence of another mouse, BALB/c mice move as far away as possible and do not interact as normal mice do — just like people with autism often avoid making social contact with other people.

This finding gave researchers a way to test whether an existing medication can alter the function of certain receptors in the brain known to affect sociability and help the animals be more at ease around others. The medication used, D-Cycloserine, originally was developed to treat tuberculosis, but previous studies showed, by chance, that it might change social behavior. In preliminary studies at EVMS, the medication appeared to resolve the Balb/c mouse's deficits of sociability; it behaved as a normal mouse would when placed near another.

Dr. Deutsch will discuss the research at EVMS' Quarterly Autism Education Series at noon, Dec. 14, in the school's Hofheimer Hall auditorium.

EVMS' laboratory studies with the Balb/c mouse led its investigators to hypothesize that D-Cycloserine could ease the impaired sociability of persons with autism, such as avoiding eye contact and personal interaction. Those traits can severely limit the possibility of employment and independent living for someone with autism.

"What makes this important is you might have someone with a 125 or 130 IQ who's unemployable" because of their social impairments, said Maria R. Urbano, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

Dr. Urbano is moving this promising research from the laboratory directly to patient care by starting a pilot clinical trial of D-Cycloserine in adolescent and young adult patients with autism spectrum disorders. The trial will show whether the medication, which is already known to be safe for use in humans, has similar effects on the sociability deficits of persons with autism as it did in the mice. ...

via Autism breakthrough: Researchers identify possible treatment for impaired sociability.

Great, no side effects except "... irritability, depression, psychosis convulsions..." Wait...  I think Wikipedia is missing an important comma. Is that psychosis and convulsions or are "psychosis convulsions" a special kind of convulsions?



It is also being trialed as an adjuvant to exposure therapy for anxiety disorders (e.g. phobias), depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. It has been experimentally used for treatment of Gaucher's disease. Recent research suggests that D-cycloserine ... may be effective in treating chronic pain. The side effects are mainly central nervous system (CNS) manifestations, i.e. headache, irritability, depression, psychosis convulsions. Co-administration of pyridoxine can reduce the incidence of some of the CNS side effects (e.g. convulsions). These psychotropic responses are related to D-cycloserine's action as a partial agonist of the neuronal NMDA receptor for glutamate and have been examined in implications with sensory-related fear extinction in the amygdala, and extinction of cocaine seeking in the nucleus accumbens. D-cycloserine is a partial agonist at the glycine receptor, and has been shown to have cognition-enhancing properties for models of Parkinsons disease in primates.

via Wikipedia

In any case, I don't think a drug is going to make people much more interesting than they already are... although if I was psychotic and convulsing, I might think otherwise.

4 comments:

oliver stieber said...

curbies,

Kava Kava and ketamine makes me selfish (that fixes the social problems one way)

How about a drug that turns psychopaths into normal people or even better AS people and then society will fix itself.

oliver stieber said...

I do know what other people are thinking, that's what makes it uncomfortable!
they just don't appear to know what I'm thinking, there pretty much useless in social situations and seem to waffle on about all kinds of rubbish ignoring reality and instead playing some game of competition with no apparent ultimate goal or end than to rid the world of caring.

It is written into law that others should not be judge by theory of mind, but by knowledge and the appreciation of truth.

there appears to be an apparent lack of social empathy with the truth and freedom of thought, in exchange for propaganda and a promise of 'something' better via a debate where consensus can never be found.

-- Generticly Human --

Those who would clense us,
Those who would cure us,
Those who would have us be like them,
Those who would cure us of their faults.

Patrick said...

Xeno, your sense of humor gets more wry and cutting every year.
Keep it up.

Smarter Than You said...

Chances are that researchers at a medical school know all the possible side effects.

At the very least, they know as many as you.

But chances are that anyone who lives with such a terrible illness, would tolerate almost anything.

After all, people with cancer put up with chimo.