Inexpensive Water Pill Found Promising In Improving Autism Symptoms

Autism spectrum disorder commonly affects about 1-2% of the population, according to the World Health Organization. It is more prevalent among boys than girls.

For children diagnosed with Autism, several drugs including sertraline, fluoxetine and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been prescribed to help alleviate their symptoms. However, a recent study showed that a cheap generic diuretic drug could help relieve autism symptoms in children.

The researchers from numerous institutions in China and the University of Cambridge sought to analyze young children diagnosed with moderate and severe autism to find out whether bumetanide could improve their symptoms. Understanding the mechanism by which this water pill could help alleviate autism symptoms could lead to future drug development to treat moderate to severe autism.

The study included 81 autistic kids aged 3-6. Forty-two of them received 0.5 mg of bumetanide twice daily for three months and 39 weren’t given any treatment. They, then, scanned some of the participants’ brains using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The findings of the study reported improvements in autism symptoms as measured by the childhood autism rating scale alongside a doctor’s overall impression. The doctors who were assessing this had no idea which child was receiving the treatment.

The improvements in autistic symptoms were linked to changes in the brain chemicals especially, GABA. They found decreases in repetitive behavior and decreased interest in objects. Such reductions in unsociable behavior could help improve their social behavior.

A mother of a four-year-old boy diagnosed with autism who belonged to the bumetanide group reported that the child got better at making eye contact and had improved social skills, Yahoo Finance mentioned.

“This study is important and exciting because it means that there is a drug that can improve social learning and reduce ASD symptoms during the time when the brains of these children are still developing. We know that GABA and glutamate are key chemicals in the brain for plasticity and learning and so these children should have an opportunity for a better quality of life and wellbeing,” Science Blog quoted the study’s lead author Professor Barbara Sahakian.