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Scientists Pinpoint Main Cause of Sensory Hypersensitivity in Autism

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-pinpoint-main-cause-of-sensory-hypersensitivity-in-autism/

Sensory hypersensitivity in mice with Grin2b mutations is associated with hyperactivity in the anterior cingulate cortex and increased connectivity throughout the brain. A research team led by Director Kim Eunjoon of the Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions and Director Kim Seong-Gi of the Center

This study has identified the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a key area in the brain responsible for sensory hypersensitivity in autism spectrum disorders. Utilizing a mouse model with a Grin2b gene mutation, heightened neural activity and connectivity in the ACC was observed. Suppressing this hyperactivity normalized the sensory hypersensitivity, offering new insights into treatment options

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02572-y (open access)

9 comments

penquin

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This is good news and I hope they make progress on it.

Dasus

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Suppressing this hyperactivity normalized the sensory hypersensitivity, offering new insights into treatment options

What did they do to suppress it? (Asking for a friend.)

Edit: "Chemogenetic inhibition of ACC.."

Okay yeah a bit unaccessible ~~to me~~ my friend.

FoxyFerengi

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Does this only apply to autistic sensory issues? I have been diagnosed with a sensory disorder, but I have ADHD. It's debilitating, so it would be neat to experience life without constant overload

schmorpel

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I would take diagnosis around Neurodiversity with a grain of salt. I suspect both conditions might be the same brain differences presenting differently, and I don't think science has really gotten to the ground of this yet.

Randomgal

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I was going to comment the same. I'd add that that it's also important to remember that (as opposed to physical diagnosis) mental health diagnoses are descriptive, rather than predictive.

You can think of a mental health diagnosis like a bucket, where we put different symptoms that often occur together (but rarely all the same time) and then label the bucket, as in "depression". Then we try to figure out why there seems to be this relationship of symptoms, where they are coming from, and how to make it better; with part of the object of study being intangible.

With physical medicine, you can follow a tangible path from the symptom to the cause. If you have symptoms of Covid, you can test for the specific virus. And then "predict" what's going to happen and what to do about it.

jackalope

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This isn't quite true. Physical medicine also has many diseases that are just grouped together symptoms with unknown etiology. They are referred to as syndromes: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndrome

FoxyFerengi

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I guess my confusion with that lies with an additional diagnosis I have: AvPD. Treatment for the pd has been hugely beneficial for me, where I don't think treating social issues in autism can/should be beneficial or necessary. I'm not disagreeing with your take, I think similar brain structures can have similar symptoms. I just would hate to put anyone with autism through the therapy I have solely because it helped me navigate the world better.

If I had been diagnosed with autism, I would never gone through this treatment. I guess, as my therapist puts it "we don't want to change autism" where the world does want to change personality disorders

MonkderDritte

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anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

This is where sensoric processing happens in the limbic system, right?

Bebo

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ACC is mainly studied for its role in cognition and emotion. In the article linked it's mentioned >The ACC is one of the higher-order cortical regions that have been extensively studied for cognitive and emotional brain functions, but have been understudied for brain disease-related sensory abnormalities.> I also found another article on the role of ACC in cognition and emotion: https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/jnp.23.2.jnp121

Also you can go through the Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cingulate_cortex