Friday, 3rd February 2006 (6729 views)

Gold salts may one day be used to treat autism, a scientist has suggested.

Mady Hornig from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Policy is to test whether gold salts can improve the functioning of "autistic mice", the United Press International reports.

Dr Hornig has bred a group of mice with a susceptibility to thimerosal, which used to be widely used in children's immunisations and is thought by many to be linked to the rise in autism.

Previous studies have shown that treating mice with thimerosal leads them to exhibit autistic-like symptoms.

Dr Hornig will see whether treatment with gold salts improves the mice's functioning. If the results are positive, it could have implications for the treatment of autism in children.

A 12-year-old boy known as Donald T was treated with gold salts in 1946 for juvenile arthritis. The gold salts cleared up the arthritis but an unexpected marked improvement in his autism was also observed.

Some researchers believe that autism is caused by toxic exposure in utero or during infancy.

Previous research by Boyd Haley of the University of Kentucky on the effect of gold salts on mercury found that gold salts reversed the binding of mercury to molecules.

 

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