Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have published a first-of-its-kind study revealing a potential future method for reducing the symptoms of autism among those diagnosed with the common developmental disorder.
Dr. Haitham Amal and his team from the School of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Medicine discovered a direct connection between levels of nitric oxide (NO) in the brain and autism, the university said in a statement.
The study, conducted on mice and published Monday in the peer-reviewed Advanced Science journal, demonstrates that autism indicators increases as NO increases in the brain, and that autism indicators and behavior decrease as the levels of NO in the brains of murine models of autism are lowered “in a proactive and controlled manner.”
