A new study suggests that therapeutic interventions to treat neurodevelopmental disorders may be more effective if done during the earliest stages of brain development.
“To halt the progression of neurodevelopmental disorders, it is important to identify how and when brain circuits change during development. Our study identifies when circuits are altered in addition to how brain circuits are corrected,” said the author study principal Molly Huntsman, PhD, associate professor at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, located on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. .
The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, looks at fragile X syndrome (FXS), a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder and a common cause of intellectual disability, autism and anxiety disorders.
“Currently, there are no approved or effective therapies targeting a specific pathophysiology underlying the clinical manifestations of FXS,” Huntsman said. “We hope to provide answers about when and how to treat FXS to help with therapeutic options eventually.”
Researchers at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy identified potential causal changes at the circuit level during a critical period of brain development amenable to therapeutic intervention. They focused on the amygdala, the region of the brain where fear and anxiety are processed.
Using a mouse model of FXS, they identified a critical period of increased circuit plasticity that occurs in early brain development. They showed that fear learning occurs in the brain during these periods of increased plasticity. At the same time, they showed that early intervention improves it.
The results suggest that critical period plasticity in the amygdala is increased and may be shifted to earlier developmental points. This could lead to a ‘maladaptive’ form of plasticity, and yet one that can be treated with therapeutic intervention at key developmental times.
Age at the time of treatment, the study found, is important because early pharmacological intervention was shown to be effective in reducing fear learning in the mouse model.
“This is very significant and addresses a critical barrier to understanding how circuits develop in a mouse model of autism and intellectual disability and even more important for treatment options targeting therapeutic intervention,” Huntsman said. .
The researchers said future clinical trials should focus on critical periods of human development.
About the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus includes the University of Colorado’s health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked freestanding hospitals: University of Colorado UCHealth Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
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