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Just as autism rates jump to 1 in 68, a new study has found patterns in the way the brains of children with autism change during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
According to an article on NBC News, researchers at the University of California—San Diego’s Autism Center of Excellence—have likened the occurrence to an "arrested development" in the brain.
"Not only are there too many cells, but they are not developed properly," said lead researcher, Eric Courchesne. "Brain cells are there but they haven’t changed into the kind of cell they are supposed to be. It's a failure of early formation."
Genetics play a role, yet clearly something—or some things—are bringing about these changes during pregnancy, claim researchers in a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"It has to be something that involves mom, something that she is exposed to or that is happening to her," said Courchesne, who studied the brain samples of 11 children with and without autism, who died suddenly between the ages of 2 to 15.
Not surprisingly, similar patches of abnormal tissue—in the regions responsible for "social development, communication and language"—were detected deep in the brains of the autistic children, suggesting the changes happened early in development.
This goes some way to explain why kids on the spectrum tend to have larger than average brains.
The study also highlights the importance of tissue and organ donation.
More autism-related studies.