Academia Sinica Team Reveals Importance of Olfactory Cortex; Hopes to Aid Early Intervention in Autism
A research team at Academia Sinica established an AI system to analyze the whole-brain circuitry of autism model mice, discovering that abnormalities in the olfactory cortex play a crucial role. This suggests incorporating olfactory training into early interventions could be beneficial.
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- 📰 Published: April 15, 2026 at 13:55
- 🔍 Collected: April 15, 2026 at 14:01 (5 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 12:04 (94h 2m after Collected)
Central News Agency reporter Chao Min-ya reporting from Taipei on the 15th. The causes of autism are complex. A team at Academia Sinica established a system to analyze abnormalities in the whole-brain circuitry of an autism mouse model, discovering that the "olfactory cortex" plays an important role in autism. Hsueh Yi-ping, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, stated that early intervention for autism mostly focuses on tactile and somatosensory training, and clinical practice could consider incorporating olfaction into sensory training, which is expected to improve the effectiveness of early interventions.
The National Science and Technology Council held a research achievement press conference today. The team led by Hsueh Yi-ping and Wang Chien-yao, Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, established the Whole-Brain Automated Brain Region Calibration and Quantitative Analysis (BM-auto) system. By comparing neural circuit changes in different autistic mice, they verified the importance of the olfactory cortex in the pathology of autism. The research results were recently published in the internationally renowned journal "Molecular Psychiatry".
Hsueh Yi-ping explained that whole-brain neural circuits are complex, requiring the development of fast and accurate whole-brain analysis technologies to understand circuit abnormalities. The team spent 7 years establishing the BM-auto system, which handles everything from mouse brain sample processing to whole-brain fluorescence image scanning and quantification. Combined with specialized fluorescence labeling techniques, it allows researchers to understand whole-brain circuitry.
She stated that the team integrated ground truth data collected over the past 5 years with AI deep learning technology to build an automated brain region identification system. It accurately analyzes over 500 brain regions in each mouse brain, acquiring reliable data.
Hsueh Yi-ping pointed out that through the BM-auto system, the team completed quantitative whole-brain fluorescence imaging analysis of three types of autistic mice. Comparing them to a database of normal mice, they mapped abnormalities in the connectome of the three autistic mice types. They found a commonality: a significant decrease in specific projection neurons in the olfactory cortex. This further proved that although the three types of autistic mice retain their olfactory sensing ability and can smell various odors, they lose the ability to distinguish between different scents, resulting in an olfactory discrimination deficit.
She mentioned that the team also used chemogenetics to suppress neural cell activity in the olfactory cortex of wild-type normal mice, which immediately led to decreased social activity in the mice. Furthermore, by analyzing functional connections between the olfactory cortex and other brain regions, they found weakened brain region connectivity in autistic mice. Specifically, when given particular odor stimuli, the neural activity across various brain regions in autistic mice was generally lower. This indicates that olfactory cortex abnormalities in autistic mice not only affect olfactory function but also impact information transmission and connectivity with other brain regions.
Hsueh Yi-ping highlighted that these research findings uncover the vital role of the olfactory cortex in autism and open up new research directions. Currently, early intervention for autism heavily emphasizes tactile and somatosensory stimulation, but olfactory training is lacking. In the future, clinical settings could consider incorporating olfaction into sensory training, providing better assistance to patients.
Hsueh Yi-ping added that the BM-auto system established by the team is a major highlight of this research. It breaks through the bottlenecks of traditional whole-brain image processing, enabling fast and precise full-brain analysis, and could be applied to studying other neurological diseases in the future.
The National Science and Technology Council held a research achievement press conference today. The team led by Hsueh Yi-ping and Wang Chien-yao, Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, established the Whole-Brain Automated Brain Region Calibration and Quantitative Analysis (BM-auto) system. By comparing neural circuit changes in different autistic mice, they verified the importance of the olfactory cortex in the pathology of autism. The research results were recently published in the internationally renowned journal "Molecular Psychiatry".
Hsueh Yi-ping explained that whole-brain neural circuits are complex, requiring the development of fast and accurate whole-brain analysis technologies to understand circuit abnormalities. The team spent 7 years establishing the BM-auto system, which handles everything from mouse brain sample processing to whole-brain fluorescence image scanning and quantification. Combined with specialized fluorescence labeling techniques, it allows researchers to understand whole-brain circuitry.
She stated that the team integrated ground truth data collected over the past 5 years with AI deep learning technology to build an automated brain region identification system. It accurately analyzes over 500 brain regions in each mouse brain, acquiring reliable data.
Hsueh Yi-ping pointed out that through the BM-auto system, the team completed quantitative whole-brain fluorescence imaging analysis of three types of autistic mice. Comparing them to a database of normal mice, they mapped abnormalities in the connectome of the three autistic mice types. They found a commonality: a significant decrease in specific projection neurons in the olfactory cortex. This further proved that although the three types of autistic mice retain their olfactory sensing ability and can smell various odors, they lose the ability to distinguish between different scents, resulting in an olfactory discrimination deficit.
She mentioned that the team also used chemogenetics to suppress neural cell activity in the olfactory cortex of wild-type normal mice, which immediately led to decreased social activity in the mice. Furthermore, by analyzing functional connections between the olfactory cortex and other brain regions, they found weakened brain region connectivity in autistic mice. Specifically, when given particular odor stimuli, the neural activity across various brain regions in autistic mice was generally lower. This indicates that olfactory cortex abnormalities in autistic mice not only affect olfactory function but also impact information transmission and connectivity with other brain regions.
Hsueh Yi-ping highlighted that these research findings uncover the vital role of the olfactory cortex in autism and open up new research directions. Currently, early intervention for autism heavily emphasizes tactile and somatosensory stimulation, but olfactory training is lacking. In the future, clinical settings could consider incorporating olfaction into sensory training, providing better assistance to patients.
Hsueh Yi-ping added that the BM-auto system established by the team is a major highlight of this research. It breaks through the bottlenecks of traditional whole-brain image processing, enabling fast and precise full-brain analysis, and could be applied to studying other neurological diseases in the future.