“Children with autism have many more brain cells than typically developing children, researchers have found, supporting previous research that suggests that autism may be caused by something going awry before a baby is born as opposed to something triggering autism in a toddler.
Scientists studied the brains of 13 boys and found those with autism had 67% more brain cells than typically developing boys. They specifically looked at the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex because it’s the part that’s responsible for social, emotional, communication and language development. Having too many neurons or nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls the very features that children with autism struggle with may explain the origin of autism, the study suggests…
In addition to finding too many brain cells, Courchesne and his colleagues found the brains of children with autism were heavier than those of typically developed children. “The brains of boys with autism were 17.6% heavier than controls. It wasn’t as big as would be predicted based on the neuron count alone,” says Courchesne. He adds that he would have predicted those brains to be maybe 30% heavier than a normally developing brain. He acknowledges that this raises more questions than it answers, which is why more research like this needs to be done.”
- New study suggests autism starts in the womb – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs
Scientists studied the brains of 13 boys and found those with autism had 67% more brain cells than typically developing boys. They specifically looked at the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex because it’s the part that’s responsible for social, emotional, communication and language development. Having too many neurons or nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls the very features that children with autism struggle with may explain the origin of autism, the study suggests…
In addition to finding too many brain cells, Courchesne and his colleagues found the brains of children with autism were heavier than those of typically developed children. “The brains of boys with autism were 17.6% heavier than controls. It wasn’t as big as would be predicted based on the neuron count alone,” says Courchesne. He adds that he would have predicted those brains to be maybe 30% heavier than a normally developing brain. He acknowledges that this raises more questions than it answers, which is why more research like this needs to be done.”
- New study suggests autism starts in the womb – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs