Tobias Bast

Tobias Bast

Tobias Bast
Position

Associate Professor, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham (UK)

A combination of three nutrients improves social and neural traits in mouse models of autism

A study published in PLOS Biology analysed whether supplementation with zinc, serine and branched-chain amino acids —valine, isoleucine and leucine— improves autism-related symptoms in three mouse models. These nutrients are believed to regulate synaptic formation and activity. The results show that the combination of the three nutrients, at low doses for seven days, improved affected brain traits —such as hyperactivity and hyperconnectivity of the amygdala— and the social behaviour of the animals. Individual supplementation did not show such improvements. 

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