Brain Wired At Birth - 06/14/2012
As reported in the journal Neuron, a team of researchers led by Jeff Lichtman, the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has found that just days before birth mice undergo an explosion of neuromuscular branching. At birth, the research showed, some muscle fibers are contacted by as many as 10 nerve cells. Within days, however, all but one of those connections had been pruned away.
"That is one theory people have talked about, whether autism could be a disorder where connections that should have been trimmed back weren't, and as a result stimuli are much more intense than they should be," he said. "There are stories about children with autism spectrum disorders who cannot run in their bare feet on grass, because it's just too painful."
