IFIBYNE   05513
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA, BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y NEUROCIENCIAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Characterization of postnatal alterations in a mouse model of autism
Autor/es:
KAZLAUSKAS N; CAMPOLONGO M; LUCCHINA L; DEPINO A
Lugar:
Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Simposio; 2do Simposio Franco-Argentino de Neurociencias; 2012
Resumen:
Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impediments in social interaction, a reduction in communicative skills and by stereotyped or restricted behaviors. The pathology typically appears during the first years of childhood, so we consider that it is important to identify a critical time window in which maturation and consolidation of the neural systems responsible for these symptoms typically occur. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that central inflammatory processes underlie autism development. We propose that inflammation (glial activation particularly) could be affecting myelination, neurogenesis and/or sinaptogenesis processes, altering the normal neural development and then resulting in the behavioral symptoms. We studied the development of typical behaviors and glial activation in the brain of a mouse model of autism, generated by prenatal exposure to valproic acid (VPA). Our aim is to identify a specific period where we can observe VPA effects on autism related behaviors and the appearance of gliosis. We found a delay in the acquisition of acoustic startle and righting reflexes, and also an altered neuroinflammatory state in the hippocampus and the cerebellum of VPA mice. This shows that prenatal administration of VPA has early effects both in behavior and brain histology of treated mice. Studying how these alterations correlate with the adult deficits in social behavior will allow us to identify the critical period when autism-related behaviors are consolidated in the postnatal brain.