A UMass Medical School research team, led by Dr. David Cochran, has received a $400,000 grant from the Eagles Autism Foundation, affiliated with the Philadelphia Eagles, to study if using the drug gabapentin can have a positive impact on the area of the brain involved in social cognition, which might then translate into clinically measurable improvements in social cognition.
The study will focus on how the drug might be used to treat children with autism spectrum disorder.
“What we’ve shown, and has been confirmed in other studies, is there is a lower amount of GABA in the brain in certain areas among kids with autism, compared with typically developing kids,” Cochran said in a statement. “And we’ve shown that the levels are related to social impairment.”
The eight-week, open-label clinical trial will use 40 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, with autism spectrum disorder, and will measure GABA levels before and after treatment.
“One of the real difficulties with autism, in terms of medication treatment, is there currently are no medical treatments for the core social deficits in autism,” Cochran said. “A high percentage of kids with autism take medication, but those are for behavioral or psychiatric symptoms, such as hyperactivity, irritability or anxiety.”
