Autism spectrum disorders: emerging mechanisms and mechanism-based treatment

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impaired social communication, abnormal language development, restricted interests, and repetitive and stereotyped behaviors (Zoghbi and Bear, 2012; Ebert and Greenberg, 2013; Lai et al., 2014). These disorders show a high degree of clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Studies suggest that there is the functional convergence among autism-linked genes on common pathways that are involved in synaptic development, plasticity and signaling, raising the hope that similar therapeutic strategy may be effective for different forms of autistic disorders (Krumm et al., 2014; Ronemus et al., 2014). Investigation of cellular and synaptic deficits in ASDs will provide further insights into the pathogenesis of autism and may eventually lead to potential treatment for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders (Zoghbi and Bear, 2012; Delorme et al., 2013; Ebert and Greenberg, 2013). Our research topic entitled Neural and Synaptic Defects in Autism Spectrum Disorders, brings together 23 articles which document the recent development and ideas in the study of molecular/cellular mechanisms and treatment of ASDs, with an emphasis on syndromic disorders such as fragile X and Rett syndromes. In addition, model systems and methodological approaches with translational relevance to autism are covered in this research topic.