Wayne State University announced Wednesday that Dr. Diane Chugani, professor of pediatrics and radiology at its School of Medicine, has been awarded a $5.79 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The grant from the agency, part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund a study that may open doors to finding a treatment for improving those afflicted with autism.
Autism is one of the most pervasive developmental disorders. It's characterized by the impairment of social interactions and communication, severely restricted interest levels and highly repetitive behavior. And it's prevalent in more than one per 1,000 people.
Autism affects many parts of the brain, but how it happens is not clearly understood. Signs of autism become noticeable in the first three years of a child’s life, and early intervention can help children gain important social, communication and self-care skills they would otherwise lack. There is no single known cause of autism and currently there is no cure for the disease that requires a lifetime of support.
The grant, “Early Pharmacotherapy Guided by Biomarkers in Autism” will continue earlier research which showed that the brain serotonergic system is abnormal during critical periods of brain development in children with autism.
In this study, Chugani and her team demonstrated that serotonin synthesis capacity in children less than the age of six years was significantly altered when compared to non-autistic children. Serotonin, an important factor involved in postnatal synaptogenesis -- or specialized junctions through which neurons signal to each other and other non-neuronal cells to form interconnected circuits within the central nervous system that are crucial to the biological processes that underlie perception and thought -- is thought to be one potential target to treatment of autism.
Through use of the 5hT1A serotonin agonist, buspirone, in children less than the age of six, Chugani hopes to uncover a new and safe treatment in groups or subgroups of autistic children.
Chugani is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Autism Speaks and the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance. She was a founding board member of the International Society for Autism Research. She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of California at Los Angeles and her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She joined Wayne State University in 1993.
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