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Many researchers think it's a bit of a stretch to

March 8, 2018 by Elizabeth Duran

Many researchers think it's a bit of a stretch to say autism is a disease. It's a disorder that's triggered by changes in the brain's electrical activity. It's a disorder that's caused by the interaction of neurons and other parts of the brain, which happen to be located in the same, non-neuronal area as their neurons. These neurons are part of the brain's "synaptic loop," where neurons send signals to synapses on their own. If a neuron gets damaged, it's replaced with a different type of neuron; if it gets damaged, it's either rewired with more neuronal connections, or, in cases like this, it's replaced with a new type of neuron at a different place on the loop.

There's no precise way to predict how many different types of disruptions might be occurring in the brain, but researchers suggest that one of the best ways to assess for a specific disorder is to check whether it is happening around the time of the baby's birth, which is about 11 months. If it does occur, you can tell by looking at what type of disruption the baby had.

Dr. Jaron Lanier, director of the Institute for Developmental Neuroimaging at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said his research suggests some brain activity might be affected by what's happening to synapses. The same goes for changes in the way the brain processes information: If a brain is affected, it might change the way the brain functions.

"There's really no way that we know what's going on because we couldn't get the data," Lanier said. "The more important question is whether synapses are involved in the process of the cognitive change. We'll have to look at every study that's done now to see if we're at the right place in time for something to happen. If so, we'll have an interesting set of data to look at."

Dr. Richard L. Zogorzak, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas Austin, said he's been studying brain changes in autism for months. He said he's been noticing that there's a pattern of behavior, but he doesn't know how that's related to autism's disorder. "It's very strange to me to see a pattern of behavior in terms of things happening in the brain," Zogorzak said. "It's a bit like trying to see what the universe is doing to the brains of mice."

That's why Dr. L. Zogorzak