A new autism study indicates that a probiotic could be used to treat subsets of people with autism spectrum disorder, according to commentary offered in the current issue of the journal Cell by University of Colorado professor Rob Knight.
Knight's commentary appears in tandem with the study, also published in Cell, which showed that feeding mice a beneficial type of bacteria can improve autism-like symptoms, which the professor termed "groundbreaking."
The study bolsters recent scientific understanding that microbes living in people's gut may affect what goes on in their brain. Also, it's the first to show that a specific probiotic may be able to reverse autism-like behaviors in mice.
"The broader potential of this research is obviously an analogous probiotic that could treat subsets of individuals with autism spectrum disorder," wrote the commentary authors, who also included CU research associate Dorota Porazinska and doctoral student Sophie Weiss.
People with autism spectrum disorder who would like to have their gut microbes sequenced can do so now through the American Gut Project, a crowdfunded research effort led by Knight.
For more information on the American Gut Project, visit americangut.org.
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CU-Boulder professor says study carries groundbreaking potential for autism treatment