Disrupted circuits in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability

•Mouse models of autism and intellectual disability display circuit-level alterations.•These deficits link genetic disruptions to behavioral phenotypes.•Phenotypes can be reversed with stimulation and drugs targeting these circuits. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current opinion in neurobiology 2018-02, Vol.48, p.106-112
Main Authors: Golden, Carla EM, Buxbaum, Joseph D, De Rubeis, Silvia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Autism Spectrum Disorder - genetics
Autism Spectrum Disorder - pathology
Autism Spectrum Disorder - physiopathology
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Brain - pathology
Disease Models, Animal
Intellectual Disability - genetics
Intellectual Disability - pathology
Intellectual Disability - physiopathology
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
Nerve Net - pathology
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Summary:•Mouse models of autism and intellectual disability display circuit-level alterations.•These deficits link genetic disruptions to behavioral phenotypes.•Phenotypes can be reversed with stimulation and drugs targeting these circuits. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are caused by a wide range of genetic mutations, a significant fraction of which reside in genes important for synaptic function. Studies have found that sensory, prefrontal, hippocampal, cerebellar, and striatal regions, as well as the circuits that connect them, are perturbed in mouse models of ASD and ID. Dissecting the disruptions in morphology and activity in these neural circuits might help us to understand the shared risk between the two disorders as well as their clinical heterogeneity. Treatments that target the balance between excitation and inhibition in these regions are able to reverse pathological phenotypes, elucidating this deficit as a commonality across models and opening new avenues for intervention.
ISSN:0959-4388
1873-6882
DOI:10.1016/j.conb.2017.11.006