In a study published in Nature Research’s journal Scientific Reports, a team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University—in collaboration with researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil—described the effects of the drug diazepam on a mouse designed to mimic the features of Down syndrome. These investigators, led by Alberto Costa, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at CWRU, used electroencephalography (EEG), behavioral methods and assessments of synaptic plasticity in mouse hippocampal slices.
“These preclinical approaches gave us answers to key questions regarding potential clinical consequences of previously-reported alterations of GABA neurotransmission in Down syndrome,” Costa said.
Read the paper, titled “Atypical electrophysiological and behavioral responses to diazepam in a leading mouse model of Down syndrome.”