An Explanation for Repetitive Motor Behaviors in Autism: Facilitating Inventions via Trial-and-Error Discovery

Caldwell‐Harris, Catherine L.

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.657774

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The evidence that food facilitates social connection with his mother is that Mahad insists on only eating food his mother prepares, thus ensuring her attention. Mahad's rituals with his food have both sameness and variety, consistent with our claim that what has conventionally been called repetitive behaviors can also serve knowledge seeking, albeit constrained by limited cognitive ability (Caldwell-Harris, 2021). Evidence that demands for food, and rituals with food, serve social connection is that Mahad asks for food multiple times a day, independently of hunger.…”

Section: Implications For Understanding the Affiliative Drivesupporting

confidence: 81%

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Seeking Social Connection and Knowledge as a Minimally Verbal Autistic Male with Intellectual Disability

Khan,

Caldwell-Harris

2024

Preprint

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We bring a strength-based and socially-oriented lens to behaviors observed in profound autism. Social deficits are a defining characteristic of autism. Yet humans’ biological drive for social connection is sufficiently strong that is should be observable, in some form at least, in individuals with autism. We describe a case that validates this view. Mahad is a 20-year-old Pakistani-American male, with intellectual disability, and minimal verbal abilities. Mahad has an intense interest in food and the steps involved in food preparation. He employs and capitalizes on his family’s meal routines to ensure continual social attention from his mother. When not immersed in food, Mahad uses his limited capacities to pursue the additional biological needs of exploring his environment, seeking information, and developing his cognitive abilities.

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Section: Implications For Understanding the Affiliative Drivesupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Repetitive behaviors are a form of experimenting in the world to gain knowledge. The autistic individual repeats actions with minute variation, to observe the effect of a slight change (Caldwell-Harris, 2021). One can repeatedly manipulate objects, noticing the new information from vision and touch.…”

Section: Implications For Understanding Intense Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Social Connection and Knowledge as a Minimally Verbal Autistic Male with Intellectual Disability

Khan,

Caldwell-Harris

2024

Preprint

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“…Repetitive behaviors are considered a key characteristic of ASD ( Caldwell-Harris, 2021 ), thus reproducing them in animal models is crucial for the use of these models for further ASD research. Fmr1 -KO mice showed repetitive behaviors by spending more time as well as more episodes of self-grooming compared to controls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behavioral Characterization Of Fmr1-ko Micementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the effect of R-Baclofen and LP-211 on autistic behavior of the BTBR and Fmr1-KO mouse models

et al. 2023

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IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a persistent neurodevelopmental condition characterized by two core behavioral symptoms: impaired social communication and interaction, as well as stereotypic, repetitive behavior. No distinct cause of ASD is known so far; however, excitatory/inhibitory imbalance and a disturbed serotoninergic transmission have been identified as prominent candidates responsible for ASD etiology.MethodsThe GABAB receptor agonist R-Baclofen and the selective agonist for the 5HT7 serotonin receptor LP-211 have been reported to correct social deficits and repetitive behaviors in mouse models of ASD. To evaluate the efficacy of these compounds in more details, we treated BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J and B6.129P2-Fmr1tm1Cgr/J mice acutely with R-Baclofen or LP-211 and evaluated the behavior of animals in a series of tests.ResultsBTBR mice showed motor deficits, elevated anxiety, and highly repetitive behavior of self-grooming. Fmr1-KO mice exhibited decreased anxiety and hyperactivity. Additionally, Fmr1-KO mice’s ultrasonic vocalizations were impaired suggesting a reduced social interest and communication of this strain. Acute LP-211 administration did not affect the behavioral abnormalities observed in BTBR mice but improved repetitive behavior in Fmr1-KO mice and showed a trend to change anxiety of this strain. Acute R-Baclofen treatment improved repetitive behavior only in Fmr1-KO mice.ConclusionOur results add value to the current available data on these mouse models and the respective compounds. Yet, additional studies are needed to further test R-Baclofen and LP-211 as potential treatments for ASD therapy.

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“…Besides gaining insight into the mechanisms that go awry in FXS, the present study demonstrate that targeting ErbB is an effective therapeutic strategy for aberrant repetitive behaviors. Beyond ASD and FXS, repetitive compulsive behaviors are hallmarks of different neuropsychiatric diseases, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome: rodent self-grooming is considered a translating phenotype of excoriation (compulsive skin picking), trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling), dysmorphic disorder (obsessive cosmetic grooming) and tics, key features of these human diseases 79,80 . In this view, ErbB inhibition could be beneficial for the treatment of repetitive behaviors in different neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases, besides ASD and FXS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ErbB inhibition rescues nigral dopamine neuron hyperactivity and repetitive behaviors in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome

D’Addario,

Rosina,

Massaro Cenere

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Repetitive behaviors are core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), the prevalent genetic cause of intellectual disability and autism. The nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) circuit rules movement and habit formation; therefore, its dysregulation stands as a leading substrate for repetitive behaviors. However, beyond indirect evidence, specific assessment of nigral DA neuron activity in ASD and FXS models is lacking. Here, we show that hyperactivity of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) DA neurons is an early feature of FXS. The underlying mechanisms rely on mGluR1 and ErbB receptors. Up-regulation of ErbB4 and ErbB2 in nigral DA neurons drives neuronal hyperactivity and repetitive behaviors of the FXS mouse, simultaneously rescued by ErbB inhibition. In conclusion, beyond providing the first evidence of dysregulation of the SNpc DA nucleus in FXS, we identify novel targets - ErbB receptors - whose inhibition proficiently attenuates repetitive behaviors, thus opening an avenue toward innovative therapies for ASD and FXS.

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An Explanation for Repetitive Motor Behaviors in Autism: Facilitating Inventions via Trial-and-Error Discovery

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

Seeking Social Connection and Knowledge as a Minimally Verbal Autistic Male with Intellectual Disability

Seeking Social Connection and Knowledge as a Minimally Verbal Autistic Male with Intellectual Disability

Evaluating the effect of R-Baclofen and LP-211 on autistic behavior of the BTBR and Fmr1-KO mouse models

ErbB inhibition rescues nigral dopamine neuron hyperactivity and repetitive behaviors in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome

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