Self-Grooming Behaviors in the Maternal Immune Activation Mouse Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Date
2024-07-04
Authors
Ayoub, Manahil
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Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that effects approximately 1% of children worldwide. Hence, it is vital to develop animal models of ASD so that thorough investigation of the disorder’s contributing developmental factors and underlying etiology can take place. Mice remain one of the best animal models used in ASD research as they share genetic, physiological, and anatomical similarity to humans, of which transgenic strains can be used to represent neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD. Considering that most clinical cases of ASD are idiopathic in nature, where it is suspected that environmental conditions play a substantial role in the development of ASD in the fetus, it is important to develop and validate idiopathic mouse models of ASD. Ultimately, we hope these mouse models would provide insight on idiopathic manifestation of ASD that syndromic models might lack. The maternal immune activation (MIA) mouse model of ASD uses an inflammatory response in a pregnant mouse dam to induce ASD-like symptom in the pups. In our experiments, this was achieved using a poly-IC injection in the pregnant dam. In this study we look to further validate the MIA model of autism by carrying out an open-field test looking at the self-grooming behaviours of MIA autistic mice and comparing them to an unmanipulated control group. We used parameters in grooming behaviour that past open-field tests on syndromic models of ASD have shown deviation from control groups in terms of self-grooming behaviours. While our sample size was too small to establish significant
differences, we established future corrections in the methodology of the open field self-grooming tests and provide suggestions on the improvement of their accuracy.
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Keywords
ASD, Austism spectrum disorder, autism, mouse models, mice, self-grooming