A glitch in brain circuitry may help explain why people with autism often display anti-social behavior.So says a new report by Italian and French researchers that appears in the June 26 issue of Science.For years, researchers have suspected that the brain’s opioid system, involved in behaviors related to pain, pleasure and addiction, may somehow be involved in social interactions, or the lack of them, evident in those with autism.Now, the European researchers report that mice genetically engineered to lack specific opioid receptors on the surface of brain cells responded differently when separated from their mothers. They also didn’t respond, as normal mice did, to the opioid drug morphine, which normally reduces distress.The social indifference displayed by people with autism and other “attachment” disorders may be related to the opioid signaling system, the researchers concluded.
