- This Shank3 study provides valuable insight into one possible cause of autism spectrum disorders. Although these studies were conducted on mice they were able to conduct several social tests that mimicked autism-like behaviors. Unfortunately, animal studies do not always correlate well to humans.
- It is known that autism has many more sources than just mutations in Shank3. Although the researchers were able to create a mouse model that mimics the social withdrawal and self-injurious behaviors often associated with autism, they used homozygous Shank3B-/- mice to achieve this. Most cases of autism associated with Shank3B in humans are heterozygous Shank3B+/-.
- Shank3B-/- model may be useful for future autism drug tests and for future studies focused on neuron function and social behavior.
No comments:
Post a Comment