A team led by Zilong Qiu at the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai has created autistic monkeys in an effort to find a cure for the devastating disorder, which has not been a much understood problem. The ‘transgenic’ macaques, which were engineered with a human autism gene, showed similar symptoms to that of a human autistic. They made recurring motions, displayed anxiety as well as poor social interaction.

The study has proved that monkeys can be used as a dependable replica for researchers trying to find the reason for the development of autism and the potential treatment for the disorder in the humans. The authors of the study revealed that their research outcomes will be instrumental in enabling the proficient utilization of genetically engineered macaque monkeys to examine brain disorders. Specialized test tube monkeys were created by the team and were given multiple copies of the MECP2 gene, which is considered to be responsible for human autism.

Surrogate females carried these monkeys and their behavior was analyzed during their growth period. The behavioral observations of these monkeys revealed higher occurrence of recurring circular movements, higher levels of anxiety and reduction in social interaction. The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in humans can result in several types of abnormalities in the behavior. Autistic people have a varied brain structure than the normal people though the exact reason or reasons for its occurrence are ambiguous. Autism at this point does not have any particular treatment and behavioral therapy is the only primary source of relief.

During the experiment, the transgene was transmitted by one of the surrogate monkeys to its off spring, further strengthening the implication of autism being related to genes more strong. "Once we identify this brain circuit (problem) associated with the autism like behaviour, we will use therapeutics such as gene editing to ols, to manipulate this MECP2 transgene in the transgenic monkey,” said Qiu.