Autism as a Disorder of Neural Information Processing:

Directions for Research and Targets for Therapy

Matthew K Belmonte
Edwin H Cook, Jr
George M Anderson
John LR Rubenstein
William T Greenough
Andrea Beckel-Mitchener
Eric Courchesne
Lisa M Boulanger
Susan B Powell
Pat R Levitt
Elaine K Perry
Yong-hui Jiang
Timothy M DeLorey
Elaine Tierney

Molecular Psychiatry 9(7):646-663 (July 2004).

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Abstract:
The broad variation in phenotypes and severities within autism spectrum disorders suggests the involvement of multiple predisposing factors, interacting in complex ways with normal developmental courses and gradients. Identification of these factors, and the common developmental path into which they feed, is hampered by the large degrees of convergence from causal factors to altered brain development, and divergence from abnormal brain development into altered cognition and behaviour. Genetic, neurochemical, neuroimaging and behavioural findings on autism, as well as studies of normal development and of genetic syndromes that share symptoms with autism, offer hypotheses as to the nature of causal factors and their possible effects on the structure and dynamics of neural systems. Such alterations in neural properties may in turn perturb activity-dependent development, giving rise to a complex behavioural syndrome many steps removed from the root causes. Animal models based on genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, and behavioural manipulations offer the possibility of exploring these developmental processes in detail, as do human studies addressing endophenotypes beyond the diagnosis itself.

Key words: autism, development, neurochemistry, genetics, animal models

This paper is the report of the meeting `Pinpointing Autism: Neurochemical Targets and Research Directions in Developmental Neurobiology' convened by Cure Autism Now in Santa Monica, California, April 2002. In addition to those workshop participants who have directly contributed to this review, we wish to acknowledge the participation of of Michael Merzenich, Eric Hollander, Steven Watkins, Maja Bucan, and Mark Geyer, whose insights have helped shape this discussion.

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CITED IN MY OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

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