Wayne State prof’s research pushes autism treatment forward

Alexander Gow, a Wayne State University School of Medicine professor, is pushing forward research into a number of neurodegenerative diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.His latest research, published in the Journal of Cell Biology, sheds light on  why these diseases develop and how they might be treated.It basically breaks down to the white and gray matter in the brain and how they communicate. Those lines of communications that send signals for everything from sneezing to wiggling a toe sometimes fail. Gow’s research shows that a leak in the myelin sheath of these communication lines might play a part in developing diseases like autism and schizophrenia. Although far from a cure, if further research shows this is the case, it could give scientists a big clue on how to treat and possibly prevent such diseases.Source: Wayne State UniversityWriter: Jon Zemke