Sadamatsu Miyuki, Kanai Hirohiko, Xu Xiaobin, Liu Ying, Kato Nobumasa
Department of Psychiatry, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan.
Congenit Anom (Kyoto). 2006 Mar;46(1):1-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-4520.2006.00094.x.
Autism is a behaviorally defined disorder associated with characteristic impairments in social interactions and communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors and interest. Its prevalence was once thought to be 2/10,000, but recently several large autism prevalence reviews revealed that the rate of occurrence was roughly 30/10,000. While it has been considered a developmental disorder, little is certain about its etiology. Neuroanatomical studies at the histological level in the brains of autistic patients provide many arguments in the etiology of autism. Results from postmortem and imaging studies have implicated many major structures of the brain including the limbic system, cerebellum, corpus callosum, basal ganglia and brainstem. There is no single biological or clinical marker for autism. While several promising candidate genes have been presented, the critical loci are yet unknown. Environmental influences such as rubella virus, valproic acid, and thalidomide exposure during pregnancy are also considered important, as concordance in monozygotic twins is less than 100% and the phenotypic expression of the disorder varies widely. It is thus hypothesized that non-genetic mechanisms contribute to the onset of autistic syndrome. In light of these ambiguities, hope is held that an animal model of autism may help elucidate matters. In this article, we overview most of the currently available animal models for autism, and propose the rat with mild and transient neonatal hypothyroidism as a novel model for autism.
自闭症是一种行为学上定义的疾病，与社交互动和沟通方面的特征性缺陷以及受限的重复行为和兴趣有关。其患病率曾被认为是万分之二，但最近几项大规模的自闭症患病率综述显示，发病率约为万分之三十。虽然它一直被认为是一种发育障碍，但其病因却知之甚少。对自闭症患者大脑进行组织学水平的神经解剖学研究为自闭症的病因提供了许多论据。尸检和影像学研究结果表明，大脑的许多主要结构都与自闭症有关，包括边缘系统、小脑、胼胝体、基底神经节和脑干。目前还没有单一的生物学或临床标志物可用于诊断自闭症。虽然已经提出了几个有前景的候选基因，但关键基因座仍不清楚。孕期风疹病毒、丙戊酸和沙利度胺暴露等环境因素也被认为很重要，因为同卵双胞胎的一致性不到100%，而且该疾病的表型表达差异很大。因此，有人推测非遗传机制也会导致自闭症综合征的发病。鉴于这些不确定性，人们寄希望于自闭症动物模型可能有助于阐明相关问题。在本文中，我们概述了目前大多数可用的自闭症动物模型，并提出轻度和短暂性新生儿甲状腺功能减退大鼠作为一种新的自闭症模型。
