Autism Study Reveals Two Opposing Molecular Patterns in the Brain

Researchers at IBS analyzed over 1,000 mouse brain transcriptomes and found two groups of autism-linked mutations with opposing gene activity patterns. The patterns vary by sex, developmental stage and brain region, and responses to fluoxetine and lithium differed between the groups.

• Over 1,000 transcriptomes from prefrontal cortex of 17 mouse lines analyzed
• Group 1 showed lower synaptic gene activity, Group 2 higher
• In 7 of 17 lines, males and females with the same mutation fell into different groups
• Two human subgroups with opposing synaptic gene activity found in 40 autistic individuals