r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 08 '25

Neuroscience Specific neurons that secrete oxytocin in the brain are disrupted in a mouse model of autism, neuroscientists have found. Stimulating these neurons restored social behaviors in these mice. These findings could help to develop new ways to treat autism.

https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/rr/20250207_1/index.html
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u/bigasssuperstar Feb 08 '25

Scientists' presumptions that what looks like autism in their judgment of mouse behaviour is the same thing as what they think looks like autism in human behaviour is still stuck in the idea that what makes humans autistic can be understood from analysis of behaviour by non-autistic people.

IOW, they think they understand human autism; they think mouse autism is that, too; they think helping mouse autism will help autistic humans. But I don't believe they understand human autism at the start of that chain.

I don't question the methods they're using to test their hypotheses, but this is so many steps removed from autistic adults and what they say about their experience of the world that I don't trust it to be applicable to human autism.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 09 '25

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u/CanGuilty380 Feb 09 '25

My autistic brother was 22 years old before he could go the store alone. Autism is absolutely something that many people would like treated.

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u/kelcamer Feb 09 '25

Are you aware there are different autism levels?

Are you also aware that there are different symptoms in different people?

I'm not saying no one would want help.
What I am suggesting is that autism is a lot more complicated than all the existing research we currently even know, and there could be different subtypes that are unexplored at this point.

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u/CanGuilty380 Feb 09 '25

Yes I am. What is even the point of this question?

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u/adthrowaway2020 Feb 09 '25

I don’t want to assume, but it may have something to do with what is being discussed?

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u/CanGuilty380 Feb 09 '25

The question was fit for a child. They should just get on with it and discuss a point.

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u/adthrowaway2020 Feb 09 '25

There was a double entendre in my comment.

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u/TheLastBallad Feb 09 '25

How dare they ask questions to better understand your knowledge base, and then go on to make a point.

How absolutely immature of them to not assume to know what information you have. Because everyone knows children develop into adults by first knowing that other people have different knowledge levels than them during childhood and then forgetting that fact and assuming everyone else must know exactly what they know as adults.