Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DOwgkXgDFge/Stanford neuroscientists have tagged the reticular thalamic nucleus (RT) as a likely trigger for characteristic autistic behaviors in mammals.  This neuronal plexus carries signals from the thalmus, the brain’s sensory relay station, to the cerebral cortex, the center for conscious thought, sensory, and motor activity. Using autistic mice, the Cntnap2 knockout line, they observed heightened neural firing and seizure-like electrical activity in the reticular thalamic nucleus when animals received stimuli that triggered characteristic autistic behaviors.  By suppressing this abnormal neural firing with the experimental anti-seizure medication Z944, the researchers reversed the animals’ hypersensitivity to stimuli, increased motor activity, repetitive behaviors, and lack of social interactions.  In short, they suppressed the animals’ autistic tendencies.This research now puts a focus on the reticular thalamic nucleus as a treatment target for autism spectrum diso