Reduced brain volume and white matter alterations in Shank3-deficient rats.
Carla E M Golden, Victoria X Wang, Hala Harony-Nicolas and 2 others
PMID 34313403WHAT IT FOUND
Rats with Shank3 deficiency did not show a clear difference in brain measures after the researchers corrected for many comparisons.
Some patterns suggested smaller brains and white matter changes, but they were not firm.
Key findings
01None of the original comparisons survived correction for many comparisons.
02Shank3 −/− rats showed trends toward smaller whole brain volume and smaller volumes in some gray and white matter regions.
03Tissue density and ventricular volume were not altered.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was done in rats, not people. Only male rats were studied. Some scans and data points were excluded. The main comparisons did not survive correction for many comparisons. The paper reports trends, not firm differences. It reports imaging results, not behaviour or treatment outcomes.
Declared interests
Funding came from Autism Speaks, the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health. No author disclosures are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the smaller brains and white matter differences as firm evidence or as guidance for therapy. The rats showed only trends, and the paper reports that none of the original comparisons survived correction for many comparisons.