New Use of Drug May Alleviate Children’s Symptoms of Autism

Bumetanide, a diuretic approved to treat people with liver and heart disease, is currently being tested on mice and rats to prove its effectiveness in reversing and alleviating the effects of autism in people.

The potential effectiveness of the drug is being tested in the early stages of a study that has been published in the journal Science. The study is being conducted at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris.

Through the experiments with mice and rats, bumetanide was effective in two ways: it reversed the effects of a faulty mechanism during birth that could potentially lead offspring to develop autism and it relieved symptoms of autism that the offspring would normally demonstrate.

The main cause of autism occurs during the early development of the fetus. During this stage, nerve signaling begins to occur that excites the fetus. In leading up to and during childbirth, a hormone called oxytocin is supposed to cause a switch in the excitement. In cases of autism, though, a buildup of chloride prevents that switch, ultimately leading to the rare mutation.

Bumetanide is actually capable of stopping that problem. It is administered to flush water and salt from the body, which assists in preventing the chloride buildup. Despite its success in mice and rats, though, it is still unknown if it will show the same results in humans. Yehezkel Ben-Ari, a neurobiologist at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research, expressed that there has been difficulty in garnering funding for more research on the drug because it is generic, but it is currently beginning to be tested on children to see if the same results occur.

The researchers tested Bumetanide on mice and rats because the animals' last few weeks of pregnancy are similar to humans' first few months of life. They hope that further testing will show the ability of the drug to be as successful in human infants as it is on the pregnant mice and rats.

To read more about this study, visit this Live Science article.