At first glance, the mice in Pierre Vanderhaeghen’s lab in Leuven, Belgium, seem unremarkable. But inside their tiny heads, their cerebral cortex contains a mix of mouse and human neurons at two stages of development: Their native synapses are fully mature, but the connections formed from human cells are delayed and comparable to those of […]
Your browser does not support the video tag. Break Using a new line of mice that express a synaptic membrane receptor with a fluorescent tag, researchers have followed changes in the strength of the synapses in the brain over several days. The method could provide information about the altered synaptic function in people with autism […]
Group Theory: A subset of autistic people have an over-connectivity signature of the brain, which can result from an excess of synapses. Courtesy of Alessandro Gozzi A form of autism characterized by a characteristic pattern of over-connectivity in the brain arises from an excess of synapses, according to a new study in mice. The results […]
Bouton bust: SYNGAP1 helps neurons eliminate old synapses and form new ones after a new experience (left and center left) – a process that is attenuated in mice lacking a copy of the gene (center right and right). Courtesy Gavin Rumbaugh In fact, according to a new study in mice, partial loss of the autism-linked […]
