Contrasting measures: Autism can be differentiated from schizophrenia by measuring the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission, even though that balance is altered in both conditions, according to a new study. Using resting state fMRI, researchers calculated Hurst exponents to estimate excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance. People with schizophrenia showed increased E/I balance compared with people without the condition. People with autism displayed more variability in E/I balance but still were distinguishable from people with schizophrenia. The authors conclude that this neurophysiologic measure is useful in discriminating between the two conditions. Translational Psychiatry
More autism research we spotted:
- “Inter-brain neural dynamics in biological and artificial intelligence systems” Nature
- “Hypothalamic volume is associated with dysregulated sleep in autistic and non-autistic young children” Autism
- “Early developmental origins of cortical disorders modeled in human neural stem cells” Nature Communications
- “Psychiatric disorders converge on common pathways but diverge in cellular context, spatial distribution, and directionality of genetic effects” medRxiv
- “Aluminum-adsorbed vaccines and chronic diseases in childhood: A nationwide cohort study” Annals of Internal Medicine
