Nystatin in autism - a potent Potassium Channel Kv1.3 blocker (anti-inflammatory) or an antifungal/candida treatment?
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...