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Heterogeneity and convergence: the synaptic pathophysiology of autism.
Journal article

Heterogeneity and convergence: the synaptic pathophysiology of autism.

  • Baudouin SJ Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Neuroscience Division, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK.
  • 2014-04-10
Published in:
  • The European journal of neuroscience. - 2014
Neuroligin
Prosap/Shank
autism spectrum disorders
genetic mouse models
metabotropic glutamate receptor type I
pathophysiology
Animals
Carrier Proteins
Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive
Humans
Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate
Synapses
English Autism is a developmental disorder characterised by a high heterogeneity of clinical diagnoses and genetic associations. This heterogeneity is a challenge for the identification of the pathophysiology of the disease and for the development of new therapeutic strategies. New conceptual approaches are being used to try to challenge this complexity and gene cluster analysis studies suggest that the pathophysiology of autism is associated with a dysregulation of specific cellular mechanisms. This review will present the experimental evidence for a convergence of synaptic pathophysiology between syndromic and non-syndromic forms of autism, grouped under the generic term of autism spectrum disorders. In particular I will highlight the results from genetic mouse models identifying a convergence of dysregulation of the synaptic type I metabotropic glutamate receptor pathway in mouse models for autism spectrum disorders. These results help to build a new conceptual framework for the study of the synaptic phenotype of autism, which is important for the identification of new therapeutic strategies.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/232050
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