Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University.
Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University;
J Vis Exp. 2024 Sep 20(211). doi: 10.3791/66846.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurobiologically complex condition with a heterogeneous genetic etiology. Clinically, ASD is diagnosed by social communication impairments and restrictive or repetitive behaviors, such as hand flapping or lining up objects. These behavioral patterns can be reliably observed in mouse models with ASD-linked genetic mutations, making them highly useful tools for studying the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms in ASD. Understanding how genetic changes affect the neurobiology and behaviors observed in ASD will facilitate the development of novel targeted therapeutic compounds to ameliorate core behavioral impairments. Our lab has employed several protocols encompassing well-described training and testing procedures that reflect a wide range of behavioral deficits related to ASD. Here, we detail two assays to study the core features of ASD in mouse models: self-grooming (a measure of repetitive behavior) and the three-chamber social interaction test (a measure of social interaction approach and preference for social novelty).
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经生物学复杂的疾病，具有异质的遗传病因。临床上，ASD 通过社交沟通障碍和限制或重复行为来诊断，例如手拍打或排列物体。在具有 ASD 相关基因突变的小鼠模型中，可以可靠地观察到这些行为模式，因此它们是研究 ASD 中潜在细胞和分子机制的非常有用的工具。了解遗传变化如何影响 ASD 中观察到的神经生物学和行为将有助于开发新的靶向治疗化合物，以改善核心行为障碍。我们的实验室采用了几种方案，其中包括描述详细的训练和测试程序，这些程序反映了与 ASD 相关的广泛的行为缺陷。在这里，我们详细介绍了两种用于研究 ASD 小鼠模型核心特征的检测方法：自我修饰（一种衡量重复行为的方法）和三箱社交互动测试（一种衡量社交互动方法和对社交新颖性的偏好的方法）。
