Better Olfactory Performance and Larger Olfactory Bulbs in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

Touj, Sara; Cloutier, Samie; Jemâa, Amel; Piché, Mathieu; Bronchti, Gilles; Aïn, Syrina Al

doi:10.1093/chemse/bjaa052

Cited by 6 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…The question remains, how did they detect the wall or the border of the behavioral device, and which non-visual perceptions or sensory modalities contribute to spatial navigation in blind mice. A large body of evidence showed that early blindness (due to retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma and cataract) results in an enhancement of the remaining non-visual modalities in humans (Van Boven et al, 2000;Beaulieu-Lefebvre et al, 2011;Renier et al, 2014), as well as in mice (Zhou et al, 2017;Touj et al, 2019Touj et al, , 2020Touj et al, , 2021a. All of these behavioral changes are supported by brain plasticity and reorganization (Kupers and Ptito, 2014;Chebat et al, 2020;Touj et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A large body of evidence showed that early blindness (due to retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma and cataract) results in an enhancement of the remaining non-visual modalities in humans (Van Boven et al, 2000;Beaulieu-Lefebvre et al, 2011;Renier et al, 2014), as well as in mice (Zhou et al, 2017;Touj et al, 2019Touj et al, , 2020Touj et al, , 2021a. All of these behavioral changes are supported by brain plasticity and reorganization (Kupers and Ptito, 2014;Chebat et al, 2020;Touj et al, 2020). Compensatory mechanisms can be adopted to improve spatial and navigation skills.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blind animals may have greater exploratory activity than sighted ones, as they should travel more to achieve the same level of central arousal using their remaining sensory inputs. Interestingly, structural MRI and histological analyses conducted on the ZRDBA blind mice showed plasticity in a multitude of sensory brain areas, such as reduced visionrelated structures (superior colliculus, optic tracts, dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, and primary visual cortex) and enhancement of the orbital, auditory, and olfactory areas (Touj et al, 2020). Additionally, regions involved in the fear and anxiety circuits (LeDoux, 2000;Etkin, 2012), including the amygdala, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortices, and stria terminalis, are all found larger in congenitally blind mice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anxiety and Depression Assessments in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

et al. 2022

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Previous studies have reported that visual impairment can affect the quality of life leading to mental health disorders. This study aimed to investigate associations between vision impairment, depression and anxiety using a mouse model of congenital blindness. We phenotyped 15 anophthalmic and 17 sighted adult mice in a battery of tests for anxiety and depression-like behaviors: open field test, elevated plus maze, coated test, splash test, and forced swim test. We found that: (1) Anxiety levels of the anophthalmic mice were significantly lower when compared with sighted mice, (2) Anophthalmic mice displayed more exploratory behaviors in a new environment than the sighted one, and (3) Depression levels between those groups were similar. In conclusion, this behavioral study showed that early visual deprivation lowers anxiety levels, associated with heightened exploratory activity, but does not induce depressive symptoms in a mouse model of congenital blindness, underlying several behavioral adaptations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anxiety and Depression Assessments in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

et al. 2022

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“…In animals, it was shown that early visual deprivation induces an enhanced spatial hearing in ferrets (King & Parsons, 1999). In mice, early and late visual deprivation enhances olfactory performance (Touj et al., 2020) (Zhou et al., 2017). These behavioural changes are adaptive mechanisms that allow visually deprived individuals and animals to cope with their sensory loss.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fewer studies have successfully shown that late‐onset visual deprivation may induce tactile (Goldreich & Kanics, 2003; Legge et al., 2008) or auditory (Dufour et al., 2005) compensations in humans. In animals, both early and late visual deprivation for one week enhanced olfactory performance in rodents (Touj et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early and late visual deprivation induce hypersensitivity to mechanical and thermal noxious stimuli in the ZRDBA mouse

Touj

Paquette

Bronchti

et al. 2021

European Journal of Pain

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Background Visual deprivation leads to behavioural adaptations. Early visual deprivation has greater effects on sensory systems compared with late visual deprivation. Although this has been well studied, the impact of visual deprivation on pain sensitivity has scarcely been investigated. In humans, one study indicates that pain sensitivity is increased in early, but not late‐onset blindness. In animals, one study indicates that sensitivity to noxious stimulation is increased in anophthalmic mice, but the impact of late visual deprivation on sensitivity remains unknown. The aim of this behavioural study was to examine sensitivity to noxious stimulation in mice with early and late visual deprivation. We hypothesized that visual deprivation would have different effects on sensitivity to noxious stimulation depending on its onset. Methods In Experiment 1, mechanical and thermal sensitivity was examined in four ZRDBA mouse groups: sighted mice, anophthalmic mice, dark‐reared sighted mice and adult sighted mice deprived of vision for one week. In Experiment 2, mechanical and thermal sensitivity was examined in adult sighted ZRDBA mice deprived of vision for two months. Results Anophthalmic and dark‐reared mice showed mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity, while the one‐week visual deprivation did not alter sensitivity. The two‐month deprivation also resulted in mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity. Conclusions These results indicate that early visual deprivation, regardless of the integrity of the visual system, induces hypersensitivity. Moreover, the present findings indicate that late visual deprivation may induce mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity, although this depends on visual deprivation duration. These results have implications for the biological significance of pain in the blind. Significance Sensory deprivation induces behavioural adaptions. For most sensory systems, the extent of these adaptations generally depends on the stage of cerebral development. In contrast, the present results indicate that for the nociceptive system, both early and late visual deprivation have similar effects. Anophthalmic, dark‐reared mice and adult mice deprived of vision for two months showed thermal and mechanical hypersensitivity. This shows a clear interaction between visual and nociceptive systems and has implications for the biological significance of pain in the blind.

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Enhanced maternal behaviors in a mouse model of congenital blindness

Bouguiyoud

Xie

Bronchti

et al. 2023

Developmental Psychobiology

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In mammals, mothering is one of the most important prosocial female behavior to promote survival, proper sensorimotor, and emotional development of the offspring. Different intrinsic and extrinsic factors can initiate and maintain these behaviors, such as hormonal, cerebral, and sensory changes. Infant cues also stimulate multisensory systems and orchestrate complex maternal responsiveness. To understand the maternal behavior driven by complex sensory interactions, it is necessary to comprehend the individual sensory systems by taking out other senses. An excellent model for investigating sensory regulation of maternal behavior is a murine model of congenital blindness, the ZRDBA mice, where both an anophthalmic and sighted mice are generated from the same litter. Therefore, this study aims to assess whether visual inputs are essential to driving maternal behaviors in mice. Maternal behaviors were assessed using three behavioral tests, including the pup retrieval test, the home cage maternal behavior test, and the maternal aggression test. Our results show that blind mothers (1) took less time to retrieve their offspring inside the nest, (2) spent more time nursing and licking their offspring in the second‐ and third‐week postpartum, and (3) exhibited faster aggressive behaviors when exposed to an intruder male, compared to the sighted counterparts. This study provides evidence that congenitally blind mothers show more motivation to retrieve the pups, care, and protection towards their pups than sighted ones, likely due to a phenomenon of sensory compensation.

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Better Olfactory Performance and Larger Olfactory Bulbs in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

Cited by 6 publications

References 65 publications

Anxiety and Depression Assessments in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

Anxiety and Depression Assessments in a Mouse Model of Congenital Blindness

Early and late visual deprivation induce hypersensitivity to mechanical and thermal noxious stimuli in the ZRDBA mouse

Enhanced maternal behaviors in a mouse model of congenital blindness

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