Autistic males lack certain brain cells
From Times wire reports
Men and boys with autism have fewer neurons in the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotion and memory, researchers have found.
The team at UC Davis looked at the brains of nine autistic men and boys, ages 10 to 44, and compared them with 10 brains of males who did not have autism. They counted the number of neurons to see whether the brain cells were smaller or fewer in number -- and found significantly fewer neurons in the brains of the people with autism.
The report, published in the July 19 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
