Autism Spectrum Disorders: Translating human deficits into mouse behavior

E Pasciuto; S C Borrie; A K Kanellopoulos; A R Santos; E Cappuyns; L D'Andrea; L Pacini; C Bagni

doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2015.07.013

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Translating human deficits into mouse behavior

Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2015 Oct:124:71-87. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.07.013. Epub 2015 Jul 26.

Authors

E Pasciuto¹, S C Borrie¹, A K Kanellopoulos¹, A R Santos¹, E Cappuyns¹, L D'Andrea², L Pacini², C Bagni³

Affiliations

¹ KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
² University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, Italy.
³ KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium; University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: claudia.bagni@uniroma2.it.

PMID: 26220900
DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.07.013

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorders are a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders, with rising incidence but little effective therapeutic intervention available. Currently two main clinical features are described to diagnose ASDs: impaired social interaction and communication, and repetitive behaviors. Much work has focused on understanding underlying causes of ASD by generating animal models of the disease, in the hope of discovering signaling pathways and cellular targets for drug intervention. Here we review how ASD behavioral phenotypes can be modeled in the mouse, the most common animal model currently in use in this field, and discuss examples of genetic mouse models of ASD with behavioral features that recapitulate various symptoms of ASD.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders; Cognitive impairment; Human behavior; Hyperactivity; Mouse behavior; Repetitive behaviors; Social interaction.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Aggression / physiology
Animals
Autism Spectrum Disorder / genetics*
Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology
Compulsive Behavior / genetics
Disease Models, Animal*
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Memory Disorders / genetics
Mice
Motor Activity / genetics
Obsessive Behavior / genetics
Phenotype
Signal Transduction
Translational Research, Biomedical*
Vocalization, Animal / physiology