PLT Test Blog

  Struggle to make friends? Consider Oxytocin Today’s post was going to be about FMT super-donors, but instead we have a post about new insights into using oxytocin to treat autism.   From personal experience I can say that you really can target oxytocin receptors to affect mood/behavior; I have no personal experience of FMT (fecal microbiota transplants), but thousands of people use it for many conditions.   The FMT post will be next. Oxytocin and vasopressin are two hormones, made in the hypothalamus, that are established targets for autism treatment . They are released into the bloodstream where they carry out their best-known functions, but they are also released from the hypothalamus directly into the brain where these hormones have entirely different functions. Both oxytocin and vasopressin can be given as nasal sprays to enter the central nervous system (CNS) rather than just the blood stream.   This means you get the brain effects of the hormone, also known ...

Need a wizard, or your local doctor? I was intrigued to come across a recent paper on immune modulatory treatments for autism by a couple of doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.   The lead author has interests in: ·       Autism spectrum disorders ·       Psychopharmacology ·       Developmental Disabilities ·       Williams syndrome ·       Angelman syndrome ·       Down syndrome Apparently, he is an internationally-recognized expert in the neurobiology and neuropsychopharmacology of childhood-onset neuropsychiatric disorders including autistic disorder.  Sounds promising, hopefully we will learn something new. The paper is actually a review of existing drugs, with immunomodulatory properties, that have already been suggested to be repurposed for autism. The abstract was not very insightful, so I have highl...