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Get some zzzzzz’s

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Sleep is a huge problem in ASD. But is it just “sleep” or can we get more specific? What role do genetics have? And does being autistic make sleep problems worse? Answers come from an unlikely source: mice! Learn more about recent scientific evidence tying sleep problems to ASDs and neurodevelopmental disorders. These include: type of sleep problems autistic people face, why they exist, where they come from, and how mouse models can help solve them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6639428/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.559694/full

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30737588/

https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-021-00426-w

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33549123/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajmg.a.62086

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A new clue to autism found in fluid in the brain

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Last week, another Baby Siblings Research Consortium Project (BSRC) published an intriguing finding which also has the bonus of being a replication.  Mark Shen, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found higher levels of extra axial fluid in the brains of infants who went on to later be diagnosed with autism, and even higher levels in those with severe autism symptoms.  Extra-axial fluid is also called cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid that holds the brain steady in your head.  Other functions of extra-axial fluid and what this means on how it may contribute to autism risk are described in the podcast.  He not only explains the findings, but conveys what families should know about them and how they can help with early identification of ASD.