Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Landmark Study Identifies Key Brain Difference

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/study-brain-difference-autism_56743200e4b0b958f65657ea

Interesting...

The study said that the amount of GABA doesn't matter, it's how the brain uses it, so I'm guessing just supplementing with GABA wouldn't help.

DD does not have autism but she cannot filter out environmental stimuli because of ADHD. In order to somewhat function in school she has to wear headphones and blast pop/rock music to block out normal classroom sounds. Some of the other symptoms mentioned also sound like ADHD or executive dysfunction. So I wonder what they would find if they looked at ADHD patients rather than autism.

That is pretty fascinating.

I think I remember that supplementing GABA isn't effective, anyhow, because it doesn't cross blood/brain barrier?

How do they measure "GABA activity in the brain?"

blackcat--my understanding is that executive dysfunction is a fairly pronounced piece of the ASD pie, so yeah. I'm not sure I have this totally right, but I think it's something like when ASD kids are also diagnosed with ADHD, it's not so much that they are distinct disorders (for the ASD person), but that the ADHD diagnosis is useful for understanding the EF part of autism, in people for whom that is a big issue.

A little OT: but the drug gabapentin was originally thought to do something to GABA, but I think *they* changed their minds about that. It is still used a lot for many different conditions, though.

I think you can measure GABA via MRI… at least I think that's what one of the articles I read said… there is a relatively recent study about GABA being involved with regard to Tourettes (where common comorbidities are anxiety, adhd, OCD) so I think GABA may be a major player in this game… http://www.medicaldaily.com/controling-tourette-syndrome-tics-controling-levels-gaba-brain-305084