Understanding autism requires close observation of early brain development. Animal studies are not suitable because of species differences, which is why the team of scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and colleagues from Italy and the USA are investigating how mutations of the gene CHD8 disrupt developmental processes important for autism.

For this purpose, they developed brain organoids with and without mutation for comparison and observed that inhibitory neurons are produced earlier and excitatory neurons are produced later compare to "healthy" organoids. mutated organoids, inhibitory neurons are produced earlier and excitatory neurons are produced later. In return, proliferating cells were produced in greater quantity, which is why the organoids were larger than normal. About the exact functional significance cannot be said at present.

Publication:
Carlo E. Villa, Cristina Cheroni, Christoph Dotter et al. 2022. CHD8 haploinsufficiency links autism to transient alterations in excitatory and inhibitory trajectories. Cell Reports. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110615

Source:
https://ista.ac.at/de/news/mini-gehirnmodelle-helfen-autismus-zu-verstehen/