Dr. Dan Geschwind, director of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and his team recently measured levels of gene expression — which determine the synthesis of various proteins, each with a specific task in the cell — in the brain tissue of 19 autistic people and 17 healthy ones.
They discovered certain patterns of expression common to the autistic brain.
Autistic brains showed very little difference in gene expression between the frontal and temporal lobes, two regions responsible for language, decision-making and emotional responses.
Normally, marked differences in patterns of gene expression between these two areas begins in utero during fetal development.
