STANFORD -- Nobody knows what causes autism, and scientists have all but given up on finding one gene, chemical or brain structure that explains it.
But there are new clues about the biological complexities underlying this behavioral disorder, which affects one in 88 children, according to a weekend conference sponsored by Stanford University's Autism Center.
Researchers at the conference told families about recent findings in brain chemistry, size, connections, and genetics that shed light on the disorder. Ultimately, such work will improve diagnosis and treatment.
"If all this research just changes just one life, it's worth it," said Kevin Iudiello, of Burlingame, whose son Parker, 12, was diagnosed when he was 18 months old.
"It can truly be amazing to have another person with you in life who thinks, sees and hears things like no one else in the world. It forces you to look at everything in life uniquely," said Iudiello, an entrepreneur and investment banker. "But I'm also acutely aware of the challenges of navigating autism."
Although autism is rooted in biology, the most effective interventions so far are behavioral and educational; medicine plays a lesser role in its management.
Researchers at the conference described emerging evidence about:
After experimental treatment with oxytocin, patients showed increased recognition and understanding of other people's emotions, Parker reported. Oxytocin also improved brain function during social situations and decreased brain function -- reducing obsessive over-attentiveness -- in non-social situations.
Stanford scientists are also studying potential treatment with a related chemical, called vasopressin. In non-autistic men, a single dose of vasopressin can boost social function, increase the ability to remember a happy or angry face and improve memory for positive and negative words, said Carson. His team hopes to learn if it helps autistic people, as well.
He found enlargement in the cerebral volume -- specifically, size and thickness of the gray matter -- in the brains of children with autism. The precise significant of this "overgrowth" is not yet known, and size seems to decline with age, he said.
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Stanford scientists describe autism discoveries