Social Bonding in Prairie Voles Helps Guide Search for Autism Treatments

Submitted by Anonymous on April 28, 2011 - 04:44
Source: 
Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Link: 
http://shared.web.emory.edu/whsc/news/releases/2011/04/social-bonding-in-prairie-voles-helps-guide-search-for-autism-treatments.html
Date Published: 
April 28, 2011
Abstract: 

Researchers at the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience (CTSN) at Emory University are focusing on prairie voles as a new model to screen the effectiveness of drugs to treat autism. They are starting with D-cycloserine, a drug Emory researchers have shown enhances behavioral therapy for phobias and also promotes pair bonding among prairie voles. Giving female voles D-cycloserine, which is thought to facilitate learning and memory, can encourage them to bond with a new male more quickly than usual.