WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | UofL autism study gets additional funding

UofL autism study gets additional funding

By Lori Lyle - bio | email 
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - At the University of Louisville, an experimental treatment for autism gets a huge green light from the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH Eureka award recognizes exceptionally innovative work. For Dr. Manuel Casanova, a U of L neuroscientist, it started with 13 patients and a treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

9-year-old Gabriel Cosby is playing on his game machine, as scientists at U of L, hook up various wires to his body. They are to monitor his heart rate and emotional state through a therapy that's typically used to treat depression, but Gabriel isn't depressed; he's autistic and this is his 7th session with TMS.

"I'm hoping it will reduce some of his characteristics that get in the way of him being able to socialize and learn," said Rhonda Cosby, Gabriel's mom.

Rhonda's hope comes on the heels of a pilot study with impressive outcomes. The study involved 13 patients who got TMS twice a week for five weeks.

Casanova says, "Patients were more calm, they were able to sit down, to follow instructions. When we make the brain actually work together with the therapy, it appears that patients begin to socialize better, which is something unexpected."

But it's getting the brain work correctly, that actually sparked Casanova's idea to try TMS. In his years of research on the autistic brain, Casanova says he has found a significant difference. He calls it an inhibitory surround that is basically missing from the tiny brain strands called mini-columns. Without that inhibitory surround, Casanova says, "You have an overall amplification effect. Too much signal is actually noise." 

In the pilot study, when they compared the brain waves before and after treatment, Casanova said it appears what gets stimulated is the inhibitory cells, the ones that are not abundant enough to do their job.

The NIH is funding four years of clinical trials with $900,000. With safety established, they will slightly increase stimulation until they find the appropriate level, and combine it with another already proven therapy.

"Because if they were able to sit down and follow instructions better, they would be able to learn more from applied behavior analysis," said Casanova. 

Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA, is considered by most experts as the best intervention for Autism. It is an intensive and expensive one on one approach to teaching basic skills, but it requires 20 to 40 hours a week. That is time that could possibly be reduced with the help of TMS or at the very least, improve results.

"Hopefully we will be providing a difference, hopefully we will be having very positive impact," said Casanova.

While Gabriel is yet to show any change, Rhonda is hanging on to that hope. "I want him to be able to immerse himself into society as independently as possible, because mommy's not always going to be there."

The team is still enrolling patients for the study, which officially begins July 1. To find out more call 502-852-0404.

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