Zinc- It is important to note that zinc and copper need to be in balance and supplementing with one can disrupt this balance.
New study presents a working model that could point to a better understanding of autism’s underpinnings.
“The new study, led by Stanford neuroscientists John Huguenard, PhD, and Sally Kim, PhD, and then-graduate student Huong Ha, PhD, showed that zinc is required for the proper behavior of two related proteins, Shank 2 and Shank 3, that hang out at most synapses in the brain. Among their duties, Shank 2 and Shank 3 can reshuffle the subunits of a receptor that dots the receiving end of most nerve cells. This receptor gets tripped off by an incoming chemical signal called glutamate.
In the developing brain, glutamate receptors undergo a process of maturation in the form of internal alterations that are catalyzed by Shank 2 and Shank 3. The substitution of one type of subunit for another type in these receptors endow the receptor with more-prolonged signaling strength, a better “memory” of how often it’s been previously tripped off by the arrival of a glutamate molecule, and a correspondingly more-pronounced propensity to respond heartily to such chemical messages in the future. (This collection of characteristics, which neuroscientists call “plasticity,” is the molecular essence of memory and learning.)
Kim, Huguenard, Ha and their colleagues showed that zinc is absolutely necessary to this development-associated maturation of glutamate receptors by Shank 2 and Shank 3. When triggered by glutamate, a receiving nerve cell opens itself to a temporary but substantial influx of zinc, molecules of which bind to Shank 2 and Shank 3. This, in turn, spurs those two proteins’ active reshuffling of the cell’s glutamate-receptor molecules — an essential and permanent step in the brain circuitry’s development.
Glutamate-receptor maturation is particularly critical in late fetal and early-childhood brain development, when synapses are being formed at an amazing rate. And zinc deficiency is especially pronounced in the very youngest patients diagnosed with ASD. So it’s only natural to ask whether zinc supplementation can stave off the syndrome.” https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2018/11/12/is-zinc-the-link-to-how-we-think-some-evidence-and-a-word-of-warning/
“The present study suggests that zinc enhances GABA release via potentiation of AMPA/kainate receptors in the CA3 region, followed by a decrease in presynaptic glutamate release in the same region. Zinc seems to be an inhibitory neuromodulator of glutamate release.”
Differential effects of zinc on glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmitter systems in the hippocampus https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14705143/