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t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 9 t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 9 20 Costa-Mattioli urges caution in this line of thinking. "First, we don't know the answer. But it's also important to point out that ASD is believed to be caused by many different factors," he said. "Perhaps a small population of cases of autism could have a pure microbial component, but it goes beyond this. Lactobacillus reuteri can be compared to an aspirin. What our study has shown is, despite the reason why the mouse is autistic, the bacterium helps restore social function. There are many reasons why you could have a headache, but it doesn't matter the reason; when you take an aspi- rin, it could be effective in treating the headache." Looking to the future, this non-invasive treatment could some- day be offered to humans with ASD, but the researchers stress that more studies, including clinical trials, need to be completed before the treatment could be safely and appropriately administered. "Be careful when reading this news and all other research— we have to wait for a clinical trial," Sgritta said. "And don't self- medicate. These findings need to be studied in humans first." Nevertheless, the results are promising, Costa-Mattioli said. "It is non-invasive and perhaps could someday just be added to yogurt or taken in a pill form or perhaps with water," he said. "It is still extremely early to envision this, but if this were to be true, I think not only will we have to change the way we think about the disease, but also new treatments." Treatments that will, perhaps, offer new hope for the 1 in 59. There are three symptoms which define the disorder: social deficit, repetitive behav- ior and language impairment. Through this research, we have only reversed one leg of autism in the mice—the social deficit. But the other two legs, we haven't tested. — MAURO COSTA-MATTIOLI, PH.D. Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair of Neuroscience and director of the Memory and Brain Research Center at Baylor Sgritta and Mauro Costa-Mattioli, Ph.D., the Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair of Neuroscience and director of the Memory and Brain Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, in the lab.