PLT Test Blog

Today’s post highlights a paper with some very concise insights into how microglial cells become “activated” resulting in the “ exaggerated inflammatory response” that many people with autism experience on a daily basis.   This is very relevant to treatment, which is not usually the objective of much autism research. I recall reading a comment from John’s Hopkins about neuroinflammation/activated microglia in autism; they commented that no known therapy currently exists and that, of course, common NSAIDs like ibuprofen will not be effective.  But NSAIDs are effective. As we see in today’s paper, there a least 4 indirect cytokine-dependent pathways leading to the microglia, plus one direct one. NSAIDs most definitely can reduce cytokine signaling and thus, indirectly, reduce microglial activation. The ideal therapy would act directly at the microglia, and as Johns Hopkins pointed out, that does not yet exist with today's drugs.  If you read the research on various natural ...

Today’s post will go against some people’s understanding of autism and inflammatory bowel disease. Just as there is a belief that heavy metals are a problem in autism there is another is another belief that candida is involved in autism and indeed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  Various types of IBD are highly comorbid with autism, but most people with IBD do not have autism. The most common treatment for candida is an antifungal medicine called nystatin.  This drug is a cheap and widely available. But nystatin has another property, it is a highly effective blocker of the potassium channel Kv1.3. Regular readers will recall that this ion channel is key mediator in the inflammatory process, it is a target in many inflammatory conditions such as IBD and indeed autism.   Those little helminths (TSO) parasites that are being researched for both autism and IBD were found to reduce inflammation by releasing their own Kv1.3 blocker which stops the host (human or animal) fr...

This post does get a little complicated, so here is a summary. Key points ·         High doses of oral Pregnenolone are shown to help Schizophrenia, particularly in females.  (these are all adults) ·         High dose oral Pregnenolone has also been shown to help adults with autism. ·         Low doses of transdermal progesterone (and likely Pregnenolone), anecdotally, reduce anxiety in Asperger’s and ADHD ·         Unusual levels of various hormones are a hallmark of autism, this can directly affect neurotransmitters like GABA ·         Hormones are produced in the brain as well as elsewhere in the body and so supplementing them may have unintended side effects.  Some hormones do not cross the blood brain barrier. ·         Side effects should be less likely after puber...