EGP News Service

Researchers at UCLA say a drug already used to help transplant recipients accept new tissue may also reverse a brain malfunction caused by a genetic defect, scientists announced June 22.

Rapamycin, a drug already approved and in use for organ transplant recipients, targets enzymes that are produced by the same cells that cause mental retardation in persons afflicted with a disease called tuberous sclerosis complex, UCLA officials said.

This affliction is closely associated with autism, and the drug breakthrough may give hope to persons with that diagnosis.

But as important, said neurobiology Dr. Alcino Silva, “our research shows that the disease’s learning problems are caused by reversible changes in brain function — not by permanent damage to the developing brain.”

In other words, mental retardation brought on by some types of disease can be reversed using the drug, scientists said.

Using mice, scientists found that mammals with a certain genetic brain defect suffer from a brain that cannot distinguish between trivial details and important information. This genetic problem causes the brain’s hippocampus to become swamped with so much information that the data turns into noise — similar to what happens to humans with autism


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