SchaferAutismReport: 'Autistic' Mice Give Genetic Clues

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Subject: 'Autistic' Mice Give Genetic Clues

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

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Vol. 12 No. 126p

In This Issue:

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RESEARCH

'Autistic' Mice Give Genetic Clues

Stevia Is All-Natural And Calorie-Free, But Is It Safe?

Turning the Tongue Into A Computer Control Pad

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PUBLIC HEALTH

Strife Over Shots: Should Our Kids Play Together?

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MEDIA

Researcher, Author Explores Therapies For Aspergers

Autism Research Institute Releases New Autism.tv Site

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RESEARCH

'Autistic' Mice Give Genetic Clues

tinyurl.com/6ph9vm

Scientists have found novel patterns of

ultrasonic vocalizations in a genetic mouse model of autism, adding a

unique element to the available mouse behaviors that capture components of

the human disease, and representing a new step towards identifying causes

and better treatments.

" Particularly intriguing are the

unusual categories of vocalizations and the more frequent, loud harmonics

evident in the BTBR T+ tf/J (BTBR) mouse model of autism, that may resemble

the atypical vocalizations seen in some autistic infants, " say study

authors Crawley, PhD, of the National Institute of Mental Health

and a Scattoni, PhD, of the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome,

Italy. Their study appears in the August 27 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

Vocal communication in animals has been

extensively documented for many species, including songbirds, whales, and

dolphins. Adult rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations during aggression,

mating, and play, and in response to some stressors. Separated infant mice

and rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations which elicit pup retrieval to the

nest by the parents, and licking and crouching behaviors by the mother,

suggesting that these calls play an important role in social communication.

Abnormal reciprocal social interactions and

communication deficits are the first two diagnostic symptoms of autism.

BTBR, a commercially available inbred strain of genetically identical mice,

displays unusually low levels of juvenile play and adult social

interactions, relevant to the first diagnostic symptom, and repetitive

self-grooming, relevant to the third diagnostic symptom. " We

hypothesize that ultrasonic vocalizations may be a measure of social

communication in mice. Delayed, reduced, or unusual ultrasonic vocalizations

in mice could offer a useful assay with reasonable face validity to the

second diagnostic symptom of autism, impaired communication, " the

authors add.

In the new study, the researchers classified

calls emitted by mouse pups when separated from their mothers and siblings

into ten categories. BTBR pups called more loudly and more frequently, as

compared to three other strains of mice commonly used in behavioral

genetics. Moreover, BTBR pups emitted a large number of harmonics, a

category that was rare in the other strains, and their call repertoire

appeared more limited, suggesting an unusual pattern or a syllable deficit

in BTBR.

The reduced vocal repertoire in BTBR mice

may be analogous to atypical vocalizations in some infants and young

children later diagnosed with autism. Instead of cooing and babbling, some

young children may hum or grunt for extended periods, fail to add

inflections into speech patterns, repeat " pop up " words out of

context, squeal stereotypically, and laugh inappropriately. Others may be

very irritable, cry for long periods of time, and be difficult to console.

More crying in these babies may be similar to the higher number of

separation calls in BTBR pups.

The next step in the research is to discover

whether mice actually communicate meaningful information to each other

using ultrasonic vocalizations. If so, an accurate analysis of ultrasonic

emissions could provide a reliable test to model the second diagnostic

symptom of autism, impaired communication, for use in identifying genetic

and environmental causes of autism, and for evaluating proposed treatments.

Unusual Repertoire of Vocalizations in the

BTBR T+tf/J Mouse Model of Autism.

Scattoni ML, Gandhy SU, Ricceri L, Crawley

JN (2008) PLoS ONE 3(8): e3067. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003067

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