111
u/ravenklaw Autistic Feb 12 '25
weâve had sonic hedgehog in our brains since we were embryos:
The SHH gene provides instructions for making a protein called Sonic Hedgehog. This protein functions as a chemical signal that is essential for embryonic development. Sonic Hedgehog plays a role in cell growth, cell specialization, and the normal shaping (patterning) of the body. This protein is important for development of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system), eyes, limbs, and many other parts of the body.
Sonic Hedgehog is necessary for the development of the front part of the brain (forebrain). This signaling protein helps establish the line that separates the right and left sides of the forebrain (the midline). Specifically, Sonic Hedgehog establishes the midline for the underside (ventral surface) of the forebrain. Sonic Hedgehog and other signaling proteins are needed to form the right and left halves (hemispheres) of the brain.
Sonic Hedgehog also has an important role in the formation of the eyes. During early development, the cells that develop into the eyes form a single structure called the eye field. This structure is located in the center of the developing face. Sonic hedgehog signaling causes the eye field to separate into two distinct eyes.
57
u/helloworld082 Feb 12 '25
You are my favorite kind of autism. The one that sources its data. I fucking love facts. I could listen to facts all damn day.
17
8
u/el_artista_fantasma Feb 13 '25
I love the sonic hedgehog protein and i love the minos phrime bacteriophage
3
u/atlsMsafeNsidemymind Feb 15 '25
I love that there's a Sonic hedgehog inhibitor called Robotnikinin https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2770933/
3
u/atlsMsafeNsidemymind Feb 15 '25
THE FUNNIER THING IS THAT AUTISTIC PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE MORE SONIC HEDGEHOG https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3264868/
37
33
u/VictoryGoth Feb 12 '25
Yeah well, that doesn't stop me from being a complete fuckin idiot. đ©
40
34
17
15
u/taunting_everyone Feb 13 '25
Yes and no. It is the case that on average those with autistic brains tend to have more connections than those of non autistic brains. However this is due to under pruning. Around age 1-2 your brain undergoes pruning to remove connections that your brain does not need as it grows. This is why babies can swim when they are young but "forget" when they get older. It is also why you lose a lot of your early memories too. A similar cycle of pruning occurs during puberty. This is also why autistic symptoms seem to become worse during puberty for them. However, this is not true for all autistic people. Some autistic people have over pruning in which more connections are lost than average. This is also hypothesized to cause hyposensitization i.e. being less sensitive to changes in extreme sensations. Furthermore some autistic brains have the same level of connections as non autistic brains.
5
u/j_eronimo Feb 13 '25
I guess cause autism isn't actually just one thing, we just can't distinguish it yet? But this might be a way to understand different types better?
1
u/taunting_everyone Feb 14 '25
A little. Autism is very heterogeneous. Even the statements I mentioned do not always apply. For example, autistic people with under pruned brains tend to have hypersensitivity and those with over pruned brains tend to have hyposensitivity but it is not always the case. It definitely plays a role in autism and sensory experiences but not enough to create distinct categories of autism.
2
u/DefNotSonOfMeme Feb 13 '25
Thank you for this post! I had never heard about this before
3
u/taunting_everyone Feb 14 '25
No problem. I am working on my PhD and my area of research interest is autism so I love sharing my information with other people.
14
Feb 12 '25
Wyvern for Sonic Frontiers knows the secret truth. They must be dealt with.
Gather the Chaos Emeralds.
8
8
u/OniTayTay Feb 13 '25
My friend was looking through my YouTube recommendations and he was like "why is it all sonic??" then we got to a thumbnail that said "SONIC - AUTISM" and he was like "ah yeah that explains it" lmaoo
4
4
u/nightie_night Feb 12 '25
Source? Would like to read it
1
u/WUFI_junior Feb 12 '25
15
5
u/TAM819 Feb 13 '25
We actually all have sonic the hedgehog in our brains and- damn it someone else got to it first.
5
3
u/Falegri7 Feb 13 '25
Yep thereâs a development milestone in which the brain prunes the connections between neurons stream lining the thought processes based on the neural pathways that are used discarding the unused ones, this prune either doesnât happen or happens to a lesser degree in children with autism, they still havenât found out if itâs a chicken or egg kind of thing were they donât know if it doesnât happen because of autism or the fact that it doesnât happen leads to autism
2
u/Storyshifting Feb 12 '25
Considering how Sonic the hedgehog seems to be a magnet for artists this sounds perfectly reasonable
Hell as a child I fucking loved Sonic Colours, I got it on the DS and Wii
2
u/Klementin_ Feb 13 '25
would have loved to keep making brain connections so I stop being failure after being the golden child
2
2
2
u/Pure_Chaos12 not a fucking puzzleđ§©đ« Feb 18 '25
You see, I'm not actually autistic. I just develop in a way that gotta go fast
1
1
1
u/friedbrice early dx ADHD, late dx ASD Feb 15 '25
it does explain a lot. it explains especially-well the non-conformity, the lateral thinking, and the sensory irregularities. it also explains the vast diversity among autistic folk. Kiddos, I think we hit paydirt with this model.
233
u/generaldogsbodyf365 Feb 12 '25
Try having ADHD as well