Israeli Scientists Discover Potential Method to Regulate Autism Symptoms.

Israeli scientists have identified a molecular mechanism that may be involved in autism, involving nitric oxide, a common molecule and neurotransmitter in the body that plays a key role in neuronal functions. The researchers found that increased nitric oxide in the brain might be one of the mechanisms that lead to autism. The findings are based on experiments on lab animals, clinical blood samples and human stem cells. The study provides a new direction for drug development for brain disorders, but the challenge is to create a new dynamic equilibrium of brain nitric oxide in autistic children without changing nitric oxide in other organs.