A-Z™ Autism Drug Discovery Platform

With our advanced autism drug discovery platform and powerful technology, Creative Biolabs provides customized autism drug discovery services supported by comprehensive capabilities and cutting-edge technologies. Our skilled scientists are ready to start your project.

Overview of Autism Drug Discovery

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by a variety of behavioral symptoms, such as repetitive behaviors and social deficits. Some patients may be accompanied by sleep difficulties and nutritional problems. The incidence of ASD has been increasing in recent years, but patients vary in the degree and type of symptoms, so developing drugs that target the core symptoms of ASD remains a huge challenge. Although some atypical antipsychotics and antidepressants have been used to deregulate ASD symptoms, these drugs do not target the primary cause. Therefore, it is very urgent to develop novel drugs targeting factors directly related to the pathogenesis of ASD.

Fig.1 A-Z™ Autism Drug Discovery Platform.

Animal Models of ASD

ASD animal models provide a powerful strategy for studying drug therapy for ASD. Mouse models play an increasingly important role in ASD drug development, which may be closely linked to the technologies available to manipulate the mouse genome.

• BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) mouse model

BTBR inbred mice are very common in ASD models. Screening of this model for autism-like behavior found that BTBR mice generally have more repetitive behaviors and less social behavior than other inbred strains, providing the rationale for the use of BTBR mice as a rodent model for ASD. Currently, at Creative Biolabs, several drugs have been tested in BTBR mice to determine their effect on the symptoms described above.

• Maternal immune activation (MIA) mouse model

MIA mouse models are increasingly used as crucial tools to study neuronal and behavioral dysfunctions relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. To induce an immune response, pregnant mice are exposed to specific substances to mimic viral or bacterial infection. The resulting offspring had behavioral, immunological, and neurological abnormalities similar to those observed in ASD. Studies have shown that MIA mouse models show great potential in drug discovery.

• Valproic acid (VPA) animal model

Evidence suggests that exposure to VPA during pregnancy is strongly linked to an increased risk of autism in children. Furthermore, rodents prenatally exposed to VPA exhibited behavioral phenotypes characteristic of the human condition. This model better represents cases of autism caused by the environment than transgenic models. Therefore, the VPA model provides an attractive tool for screening new drugs.

• Custom transgenic mouse models

In addition to the animal models mentioned above, we have extensive experience in the generation of complex animal models. As a partner, we will design and deliver high-quality novel genetically engineered ASD models through an efficient process.

In Vitro Models of ASD

• Primary Neuronal Cell Culture Models
• Human iPSC Derived Neuronal Cell Culture Models
• Cell Line Models
• Transgenic Cell Line Models
• Organotypic Brain Slice Models

Our Capabilities

Our platform is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, which allows us to provide electrophysiological assays on autism model slices and iPSC-derived neurons from ASD patients to help accelerate the progress of your autism drug project.

Other Assay Services

• Cell Proliferation and Viability Assays
• Drug combination assay
• Immunoassays
• Functional Assays
• Toxicity Assays

If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.