Animal models of autism

Berg, Elizabeth L.; Silverman, Jill L.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-816393-1.00010-5

Cited by 2 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 274 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDCs), is an environmental contaminant that may affect many neuroendocrine functions [29]. Human epidemiological studies have associated prenatal and early postnatal exposure to high levels of PCBs with an increased risk of ASD [30].…”

Section: Chemical Models Of Autistic-like Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Originally developed by Crawley and colleagues to test for sociability and novel social preference [39], the three-chamber test became the most widely used measure for sociability and social recognition assays in rodents [29,39]. The objective is to check how a test animal interacts with a stranger in a friendly manner.…”

Section: The Three-chamber Test For Sociability and Novel Social Pref...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This assay is performed to check how the animal reciprocates social advances made towards it by a conspecific [29,46]. The test animal is first habituated in the arena for 5 minutes after which a stranger is introduced into the same arena [42].…”

Section: Reciprocal Social Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This test is primarily used to evaluate how rewarding a test animal finds a socially conditioned environment [29]. The test involves three stages whereby the first two are habituation in two different chambers sequentially, and the last stage is when the animal is allowed to explore the two chambers simultaneously.…”

Section: Social Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, different conditions are known to produce different types of calls in pups [82]. Alterations in the frequency and acoustic traits of animal's USVs could serve as diagnostic and characterizing tools for certain neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as autism, anxiety, and depression [29,45,55]. In the absence of significant developmental delay, deviation from the typical quantity and/or pattern of USV emission can provide evidence of an early-life social communication abnormality [34,55,56,82].…”

Section: Ultrasonic Vocalization (Usvs Communication)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Animal Models of Autistic-Like Behavior: Is the Time for a Scoring System with More Accurate Definitions?

Ornoy,

Echefu,

Becker

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Appropriate animal models of human diseases are a cornerstone in the advancement of science and medicine. To create animal models of neuropsychiatric and neurobehavioral diseases such as ASD necessitates the development of sufficient neurobehavioral measuring tools to translate human behavior to expected measurable behavioral features in animals. Indeed, at least in rodents, adequate neurobehavioral and neurological tests have been developed. Since ASD is characterized by a number of specific behavioral trends with significant severity, animal models of autistic-like behavior have to demonstrate the specific characteristic features, namely impaired social interactions, and communication, restricted, repetitive behavioral patterns with association to several additional impairments such as somatosensory, motor and memory impairments. Thus, an appropriate model must show behavioral impairment of a minimal number of neurobehavioral characteristics using an adequate number of behavioral tests. The proper animal models enable the study of ASD like-behavior from the etiologic, pathogenetic and therapeutic aspects. From the etiologic aspects, models have been developed by the use of immunogenic substances like polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (PolyIC), Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and propionic acid or other well-documented immunogens or pathogens, like mycobacterium tuberculosis. Another approach is the use of chemicals like valproic acid, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organophosphate pesticides - chlorpyrifos (CPF) and others. These substances were administered either prenatally, generally after the period of major organogenesis, or, especially in rodents, during the early postnatal life. In addition, using modern genetic manipulation methods, genetic models have been created of almost all human genetic diseases that are manifested by autistic like behavior (i.e. fragile X, Rett syndrome, SHANK gene mutation Neuroligin genes and others). Ideally, we should not only evaluate the different behavioral modes affected by the ASD-like behavior but also assess the severity of the behavioral deviations by an appropriate scoring system, as applied to humans.

show abstract

Section: Chemical Models Of Autistic-like Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Three-chamber Test For Sociability and Novel Social Pref...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reciprocal Social Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ultrasonic Vocalization (Usvs Communication)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Animal Models of Autistic-Like Behavior: Is the Time for a Scoring System with More Accurate Definitions?

Ornoy,

Echefu,

Becker

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Allelic contribution of Nrxn1α to autism-relevant behavioral phenotypes in mice

Fasolino

et al. 2023

PLoS Genet

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Copy number variations (CNVs) in the Neurexin 1 (NRXN1) gene, which encodes a presynaptic protein involved in neurotransmitter release, are some of the most frequently observed single-gene variants associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To address the functional contribution of NRXN1 CNVs to behavioral phenotypes relevant to ASD, we carried out systematic behavioral phenotyping of an allelic series of Nrxn1 mouse models: one carrying promoter and exon 1 deletion abolishing Nrxn1α transcription, one carrying exon 9 deletion disrupting Nrxn1α protein translation, and one carrying an intronic deletion with no observable effect on Nrxn1α expression. We found that homozygous loss of Nrxn1α resulted in enhanced aggression in males, reduced affiliative social behaviors in females, and significantly altered circadian activities in both sexes. Heterozygous or homozygous loss of Nrxn1α affected the preference for social novelty in male mice, and notably, enhanced repetitive motor skills and motor coordination in both sexes. In contrast, mice bearing an intronic deletion of Nrxn1 did not display alterations in any of the behaviors assessed. These findings demonstrate the importance of Nrxn1α gene dosage in regulating social, circadian, and motor functions, and the variables of sex and genomic positioning of CNVs in the expression of autism-related phenotypes. Importantly, mice with heterozygous loss of Nrxn1, as found in numerous autistic individuals, show an elevated propensity to manifest autism-related phenotypes, supporting the use of models with this genomic architecture to study ASD etiology and assess additional genetic variants associated with autism.

show abstract

Animal models of autism

Cited by 2 publications

References 274 publications

Animal Models of Autistic-Like Behavior: Is the Time for a Scoring System with More Accurate Definitions?

Animal Models of Autistic-Like Behavior: Is the Time for a Scoring System with More Accurate Definitions?

Allelic contribution of Nrxn1α to autism-relevant behavioral phenotypes in mice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About