Researchers have found a brain chemical responsible for Tourette syndrome. Scientists reveal that the discovery of the new brain chemical may help reduce Tourette syndrome tics in children and help doctors develop effective treatments.
Tourette syndrome is supposed to be a condition of the nervous system, which starts in early childhood and is usually not treated until the child is about six or seven years. A very common feature of Tourette syndrome is the occurrence of involuntary utterance or movements called tics.
Stephen Jackson at the University of Nottingham, who is also the lead researcher of the study, explains that the tics are at its peak when a child is about 12 or 13 years old. However, tics are more controlled as a child approaches adulthood and in some case the tics totally disappear over time. Jackson also reveals that about 33 percent of children still have tics in adulthood and in some cases the tics may also increase over time.
Jackson reveals that they examined the brains of 15 children suffering from the Tourette syndrome using brain scans. The researchers also conducted brain scans on children without Tourette syndrome. The findings suggest that the children with Tourette syndrome had much higher contents of GABA, a brain chemical, in a particular region of the brain called supplementary motor area (SMA), which helps an individual plan or perform a movement.
The researchers suggest that as GABA prevents activity of the brain cells, people with Tourette syndrome should have lower levels of the brain chemical. However, Jackson suggests that an increased level of GABA is responsible for Tourette tics.
"In Tourette syndrome, as in many other disorders, the brain may adapt and reorganize the way it works so as to reduce or compensate for the effects of the disorder," says Jackson. "In this case, the effects of excitatory signals that give rise to cortical hyperexcitability and unwanted movements may be compensated for by increased levels of GABA which act to 'damp-down' or reduce excitability within a localized brain area."
Jackson suggests that the findings of the study may help scientists to develop therapies that will be targeted only at a specific region of the brain and not the entire brain. The researchers also pointed out that the findings are also significant to get a better understanding of several neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and obsessive compulsive disorder.
The findings of the study have been published in the journal Current Biology.
