NEUROBIOLOGIC ORIGINS AND INNOVATIVE TREATMENT OF AUTISM

这个巴尔的摩-华盛顿的STAART中心将研究自闭症患者运动计划和沟通障碍的神经生物学起源。目标是确定大脑发育的基本生物学变化，这些变化是自闭症核心表现的基础，并通过早期识别和干预将这些见解转化为有效的治疗方法。为了实现这一目标，我们组建了一个由22名研究人员组成的小组，他们代表了7个学科（精神病学、神经心理学、心理学、语言病理学、发育儿科、神经科学），包括肯尼迪克里格研究所（牵头机构）、国家儿童医学中心、约翰霍普金斯大学、摩根州立大学和

This Baltimore-Washington STAART Center will study the neurobiological origins of motor planning and communication impairments in autism. The goal is to identify fundamental biologic alterations of brain development that underlie the core manifestations of autism and to translate these insights into effective therapies through early identification and intervention. In order to accomplish this goal, we have assembled a group of 22 investigators representing 7 disciplines (psychiatry, neuropsychology, psychology, speech-language pathology, developmental pediatrics, neuroscience) in a consortium involving the Kennedy Krieger Institute (lead agency), Children's National Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and Georgetown University. We propose 3 research projects (1 basic science and 2 clinical) and two cores (administration and clinical). We will also have the core support of two Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers in molecular genetics, cellular neuroscience, functional neuroimaging, and biostatistics. The first project addresses the role of 5-HT afferents in the initiation and progression of synaptogenesis in the cortex during postnatal development in a neonatal 5-HT depleted animal model of autism. The second project will address origins of symptoms, early neurobiological mechanisms, and treatment of key deficits near the time of their emergence through studies of toddlers at high risk for autism. The third project will extend understanding of autism provided by the other projects to a point later in life: in school-aged children. It will focus on motor execution and its relationship to cognitive functioning. This project will use structural and functional MRI procedures to elucidate the neurobiological basis of attention, motor planning, and executive function in individuals with high functioning autism. Taken as a whole, the projects should add significantly to our knowledge of the ontogeny of autism and thereby lead to the development of novel treatment approaches.