In October, researchers gathered in Louisville, KY, to focus on "Cortical Modularity in Autism" chaired by Manny Casanova, Ph.D. Minicolumns are vertical cellular units of ~80 cells found throughout the brain's cortex. They are considered the functional units of the cortex, receiving and processing input from throughout the brain via both local and long-range connections, and in turn passing information to other minicolumns. Using autism post mortem brain tissue, Dr. Casanova initially described an increase in the number of minicolumns and a decrease in cell size that may reflect very early prenatal changes in brain development in autism.

The minicolumn pathology in autism is important for a number of reasons. First, it is one of the few quantitative differences that have described in the cortex of individuals with autism. Second, because the minicolumns are the functional blocks of brain circuitry, changes in minicolumn number and organization suggests changes in brain connectivity in autism, something which has also been suggested from brain imaging experiments. Finally, and most importantly, it reveals a specific biological process that needs to be investigated as a potential underlying feature of autism.

The meeting was designed to present the latest information on the anatomy, genetics and epigenetic mechanisms mediating cortical modularity with a special emphasis on the minicolumnar phenotype. What perturbs this organization in autism and indeed understanding the normal birth, development and function of these minicolumnar cells was the main focus of the conference. Much current research is being directed toward learning what the connections are in and between minicolumns.

More information and many of the presentations may be found at http://fornix.louisville.edu/cmia2007.