Boosting One Gene in the Brain’s Brake Cells Reversed Autism-Like Deficits in Adult Mice
In mice lacking an autism-linked gene, inhibitory neurons in the hippocampus no longer remodeled themselves after social experience. Boosting a single plasticity gene in those cells, in adult animals, rebalanced the circuit, improved memory, sharpened brain rhythms, and cut seizures from ten of fourteen mice to three of twelve.