Mice with autistic-like behaviors that were treated with a specific "good" bacteria had improvements in those behaviors, according to a study reported in Cell. Researchers examining the link between the gastrointestinal system, bacteria and behavior treated mice with a form of bacteria that is not commercially available but exists in some people. The research suggests that gut inflammation can affect autistic-behavior. “What we show in the mouse model is that if you block the gastrointestinal problem, you can treat the behavioral symptoms,” Paul Patterson, professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology, told the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative.¹ “There’s a causal relationship.”