New Models for Considering the Role of Medication in the Treatment and Elucidation of the Etiology of Autism

• Published in: Current psychiatry reports Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 726 - 731
• Main Authors: Smile, Sharon, Anagnostou, Evdokia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Current Science Inc 01.12.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders (D Mandell; Autistic Disorder - drug therapy; Autistic Disorder - etiology; Autistic Disorder - genetics; Autistic Disorder - immunology; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Discovery - methods; Etiology; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Models, Psychological; Psychiatry; Section Editor; Translation; ASD; Animal models; Pharmacotherapy targets; Genomics; Psychopharmacology; Biochemical pathways; Biological markers; Psychiatry; Autism spectrum disorder
• ISSN: 1523-3812; 1535-1645
• DOI: 10.1007/s11920-012-0326-3

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder. Over the past decades, much research has been conducted to elucidate a single etiological factor and effective pharmacotherapuetics to address the core symptom domains of ASD with limited success. Research has changed focus from behavioral observations of ASD to translating findings from animal models, genomic manipulation studies and basic science studies to pharmacological agents with the aim to lessen or reverse core symptoms of ASD. This paper evaluates potential models for translating information from the biology of ASD to pharmacological treatments.