Current investigations in autism brain tissue research.

Delprato (2001) wrote a story-style review. It lists every autism brain-tissue project running at the time.

The paper says families can donate brain tissue after death. Labs then pair the tissue with MRI and gene tests.

No new numbers are given. The goal is to map where autism starts in the brain.

The review found a small network of brain banks. Each bank needs more donors.

Teams were mixing old-school anatomy with new gene chips. No final answers yet.

Amiri et al. (2020) extends this work. They swapped the microscope for a birth-cohort file. Instead of dead tissue, they tracked 920 pre-birth events in living babies. Both papers still hunt autism causes, just at different life stages.

Griffith et al. (2012) stays in the same lane. Their review says one brain loop — cortical-basal ganglia — may feed both stereotypy and self-injury. Delprato (2001) shows where to cut the tissue; Griffith et al. (2012) tells you what circuit to look for.

van der Lubbe et al. (2025) move the lens upstairs. They measure hair cortisol in stressed parents and kids. Delprato (2001) digs into brain cells; van der Lubbe et al. (2025) show how chronic stress hormones travel through the whole family. Together they link brain structure to body chemistry.

You can’t order an brain biopsy for a client, but you can join the donor list as a family resource. Share the brain-bank hotline with grieving families who ask how to help science. One day their gift may give you a clear neural target for the behaviors you treat today.