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/BonJovicus Feb 09 '25

I swear to god why do people come to r/science to be so anti-science? 

For starters you clearly didn’t read the paper because more broadly they are looking at neural circuits that influence behavior. The premise is well established and is generally applicable outside of autism. 

Bold of you to assume none of the scientists are autistic or that anyone is making any assumptions here. I guarantee you these scientists probably understand better than some random redditor that studying biology in a mouse has caveats and is not 100% directly applicable to humans. 

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u/bigasssuperstar Feb 09 '25

Swear to god.