Reduced childhood social attention in autism model marmosets predicts impaired social skills and inflexible behavior in adulthood

Bibliographic Data

ID15528500
AuthorsAkiko Nakagami (0000-0001-7895-6705, Nagoya University), Miyuki Yasue (National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry), Keiko Nakagaki (0009-0004-7385-9665, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry), Madoka Nakamura (0009-0004-4175-3807, Nagoya University), Nobuyuki Kawai (0000-0003-0372-1703, Chubu University, corresponding author), Noritaka Ichinohe (0000-0002-8323-4552, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Pages885433-885433
Publication date2022-07-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2022.885433
PMID35958665
OpenAlexW4287092052
LanguageEN
References cited51

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social and communication impairments and restricted and repetitive behavior. Although there is currently no established cure for ASD, early interventions for deficits of attention to other individuals are expected to reduce the progression of ASD symptoms in later life. To confirm this hypothesis and improve early therapeutic interventions, it is desirable to develop an animal model of ASD in which social attention is impaired in childhood and ASD-like social behavior is observed in adulthood. However, rodent models of ASD have difficulty in recapitulating the deficit of gaze-based social attention. In this study, we examined the direction of gaze toward other conspecifics during childhood and puberty in a three-chamber test setting using an ASD marmoset model produced by maternal exposure to valproic acid (VPA). We also conducted a reversal learning test in adult VPA-exposed marmosets as an indicator of perseveration, a core symptom of ASD that has not previously been investigated in this model. The results showed that time spent gazing at other conspecifics was reduced in VPA-exposed marmosets in childhood, and that mature animals persisted with previous strategies that required long days for acquisition to pass the test. In a longitudinal study using the same animals, deficits in social attention in childhood correlated well with ASD-like social disturbance (inequity aversion and third-party reciprocity) and inflexible behavior in adulthood. Since VPA-exposed marmosets exhibit these diverse ASD-like behaviors that are consistent from childhood to adulthood, VPA-exposed marmosets will provide a valuable means of elucidating mechanisms for early intervention and contribute to the development of early therapies

Autism · Autism spectrum disorder · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Joint attention · Marmoset · Perseveration · Prepulse inhibition · Prosocial behavior · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming · Social behavior · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Clinical Psychology · Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders · Neuroscience · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology

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