New questions on autism

Autism is defined as a disorder in neurological development characterized by difficulty in social relationships, imbalances in the ability to communicate, and repetitive and restricted behavioral patterns.
Today, it is known that the main causes of this illness are environmental factors and genetic changes, although many questions remain unanswered.

Thanks to recent investigations, some new facts about this illness have been discovered. There is a protein that heightens the excitability of nervous cells, while another type of protein inhibits the activity of these cells. A team from the University of Texas proved that under normal circumstances, there's a balance in these proteins; however, an imbalance between the excitation and inhibition connections results in autism. This imbalance is brought by mutations in these proteins.

Due to these genetic changes that happen in the human body and our inability to control them, a theurapetic startegy cannot be designed for this kind of illness. This is the reason why treatments against autism are still in development.