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Afzal S, Dürrast N, Hassan I, Soleimanpour E, Tsai PL, Dieterich DC, Fendt M. Probing cognitive flexibility in Shank2-deficient mice: Effects of D-cycloserine and NMDAR signaling hub dynamics. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2024; 134:111051. [PMID: 38849086 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.111051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 05/31/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024]
Abstract
Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a heterogeneous etiology but are largely associated with genetic factors. Robust evidence from recent human genetic studies has linked mutations in the Shank2 gene to idiopathic ASD. Modeling these Shank2 mutations in animal models recapitulates behavioral changes, e.g. impaired social interaction and repetitive behavior of ASD patients. Shank2-deficient mice exhibit NMDA receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction and associated behavioral deficits. Of note, NMDARs are strongly implicated in cognitive flexibility. Their hypofunction, e.g. observed in schizophrenia, or their pharmacological inhibition leads to impaired cognitive flexibility. However, the association between Shank2 mutations and cognitive flexibility is poorly understood. Using Shank2-deficient mice, we explored the role of Shank2 in cognitive flexibility measured by the attentional set shifting task (ASST) and whether ASST performance in Shank2-deficient mice can be modulated by treatment with the partial NMDAR agonist D-cycloserine (DCS). Furthermore, we investigated the effects of Shank2 deficiency, ASST training, and DCS treatment on the expression level of NMDAR signaling hub components in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), including NMDAR subunits (GluN2A, GluN2B, GluN2C), phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase and serine racemase. Surprisingly, Shank2 deficiency did not affect ASST performance or alter the expression of the investigated NMDAR signaling hub components. Importantly, however, DCS significantly improved ASST performance, demonstrating that positive NMDAR modulation facilitates cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, DCS increased the expression of GluN2A in the OFC, but not that of other NMDAR signaling hub components. Our findings highlight the potential of DCS as a pharmacological intervention to improve cognitive flexibility impairments downstream of NMDAR modulation and substantiate the key role of NMDAR in cognitive flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samia Afzal
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Nora Dürrast
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Iman Hassan
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Elaheh Soleimanpour
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Pei-Ling Tsai
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Daniela C Dieterich
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Center of Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Markus Fendt
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Center of Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
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Fernández-García L, Phillips-Silver J, Daza González MT. A Novel Battery to Assess "Cool" and "Hot" Executive Functions: Sensitivity to Age Differences in Middle Childhood. Brain Sci 2024; 14:755. [PMID: 39199450 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14080755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2024] [Revised: 07/14/2024] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The main goal of the current work was to assess the age sensitivity of a novel battery of cool and hot Executive Function (EF) tasks developed for the middle childhood period: the Executive Brain Battery (EBB). To this end, we carried out a first study in which the EBB was administered to six age groups ranging from 6 to 11. Additionally, in a second study, we compared children at the end of middle childhood (age 11 years) and adult performance in the EBB. Results showed that tasks included in the EBB were suitable for all age groups, with more age-related changes being found in cool than hot EF tasks. Moreover, at the end of middle childhood, children reach an adult-like performance in most of these cool and hot tasks. The present findings extend previous research suggesting that cool and hot EFs exhibit different patterns of age-related growth in middle childhood. Additionally, the EEB could become a useful tool for research on EFs during middle childhood that could be adapted for a wide range of populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Fernández-García
- Department of Psychology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
- CIBIS Research Center, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
| | | | - María Teresa Daza González
- Department of Psychology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
- CIBIS Research Center, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
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Terroux A, Mello C, Morin D, Rivard M. Everyday Executive Function in Preschoolers with Autism and Links with Intellectual Functioning, Adaptive Behavior, and Autism Symptoms. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06463-7. [PMID: 38990368 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06463-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Impairments in executive function (EF) among individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their association with negative academic, adaptive, and social functioning outcomes have been widely reported over the past 20 years. However, there remains a lack of understanding of EF in autism during the preschool period, an age at which several crucial abilities (including EF) emerge. The present study therefore sought to document everyday EF in preschool-aged children with autism and its associations with other clinical characteristics. Parents rated the EF of their preschool-aged child with autism (M = 30-65 months, N = 288) using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P; Gioia, G. A., Espy, K. A., & Isquith, P. K. (2003). Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version. Psychological Assessment Resources.). Intellectual quotient, adaptive behavior, and autism symptom severity were also assessed. Preschoolers with ASD displayed impairments in everyday EF, particularly in relation with inhibition and working memory. Greater challenges in EF were strongly associated with lower levels of adaptive behavior and a higher severity of autistic symptoms. To a lesser extent, EF challenges were also associated with lower levels of intellectual functioning. The early assessment and detection of EF difficulties in preschoolers with ASD may assist in developing and integrating specific intervention targets to improve these essential abilities within existing early intervention programs for ASD. This could help to maximize their effectiveness and limit the extent of difficulties these children may face growing up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amélie Terroux
- Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Catherine Mello
- Department of Psychology, Penn State University - Berks, Tulpehocken Road, P.O. Box 7009, Reading, PA, 19610, USA.
| | - Diane Morin
- Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Mélina Rivard
- Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
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Wan C, Cai H, Li F. Age Three: Milestone in the Development of Cognitive Flexibility. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:578. [PMID: 39062401 PMCID: PMC11274188 DOI: 10.3390/bs14070578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2024] [Revised: 06/29/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Although the cognitive flexibility (CF) of preschool children has been extensively studied, the development of CF in children around three years old is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the CF of three-year-olds in a stepwise rule-induction task (sRIT) comprising nine steps in which children are encouraged to switch attention to a new rule and then implicitly inhibit the old one. A pair of boxes was displayed at each step, and children aged 2.5 to 3.5 years were asked to select the target. When children learned a rule (e.g., the shape rule), they were encouraged to switch rules through negative feedback. The results showed that most children (81.10%) passed at least one of the two sets of the sRIT, and children over the age of three years performed better than those under three years. Additionally, a positive correlation existed between rule switching and rule generalization, whereby the old rule was implicitly inhibited. These findings indicate that age three might be a milestone in the development of CF, and inhibitory control might play a vital role in rule switching.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Fuhong Li
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China; (C.W.); (H.C.)
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Pan CY, Sung MC, Tsai CL, Chen FC, Chen YJ, Chen CC. The relationships between motor skills and executive functions in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2024; 17:1149-1160. [PMID: 38641916 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
To date, information on associations between motor skills and executive functions (EF) in autistic children is limited. The purpose of this study was to compare motor skills and EF performance between autistic children and typically developing (TD) children and to examine the relationships between motor skills and EF in these two groups. Forty-eight autistic children and 48 TD children aged 6 to 12 years were recruited for this study. Motor skills were measured with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2). EF was assessed with the Stroop Color and Word Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), and the Test of Attentional Performance: Go/No-go test. Independent sample t-tests were used to compare the BOT-2 scores and EF measures between autistic children and TD children. Pearson product-moment correlation and regressions were conducted to assess the relationships between the BOT-2 scores and the EF measures for each group. Results showed that autistic children scored significantly lower than TD children on all four BOT-2 composite scores and a total motor composite. Autistic children also demonstrated significantly lower levels of performance on all EF measures than TD children. Further, autistic children showed more significant associations between motor skills and EF than TD children, particularly pronounced in the domains of fine manual control and manual coordination to cognitive flexibility, as well as manual coordination and inhibitory control. Continued development of motor skills and EF in autistic children is important. The relationships between motor skills and EF were significant among autistic children, suggesting future research on promoting EF through motor skill interventions in autistic children is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chien-Yu Pan
- Department of Physical Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Ming-Chih Sung
- Department of Human Performance and Health, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA
| | - Chia-Liang Tsai
- Institute of Physical Education, Health and Leisure Studies, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Fu-Chen Chen
- Department of Physical Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Yung-Ju Chen
- Department of Teacher Education & Kinesiology, Minot State University, Minot, North Dakota, USA
| | - Chih-Chia Chen
- Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA
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Carruthers S, Charman T, Leadbitter K, Ellis C, Taylor L, Moore H, Taylor C, James K, Balabanovska M, Langhorne S, Aldred C, Slonims V, Grahame V, Howlin P, McConachie H, Parr J, Emsley R, Le Couteur A, Green J, Pickles A. Generalisation of Social Communication Skills by Autistic Children During Play-Based Assessments Across Home, School and an Unfamiliar Research Setting. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06370-x. [PMID: 38743153 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06370-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
We investigated autistic children's generalisation of social communication over time across three settings during a play-based assessment with different adults and explore the potential moderating effects on generalisation of age, nonverbal IQ and level of restricted and repetitive behaviours. The social communication abilities of 248 autistic children (2-11 years, 21% female, 22% single parent, 60% white) from three UK sites were assessed from 1984 video interactions in three contexts with three different interaction partners (parent/home, teaching assistant/school, researcher/clinic) at baseline, midpoint (+ 7m) and endpoint (+ 12m) within the Paediatric Autism Communication Trial-Generalised (PACT-G), a parent-mediated social communication intervention. Children's midpoint social communication at home generalised to school at midpoint and to clinic at endpoint. Generalisation was stronger from home to school and clinic than school to home and clinic. Generalisation was not moderated by age, nonverbal IQ or restricted and repetitive behaviour. Broader child development did not explain the pattern of results. The current study is the largest study to date to explore generalisation with autistic children and provides novel insight into their generalisation of social communication skills. Further research is needed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of facilitators of generalisation across settings and interaction partners in order to develop targeted strategies for interventions to enhance outcomes for young autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Carruthers
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Tony Charman
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Kathy Leadbitter
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Ceri Ellis
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Lauren Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Heather Moore
- Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | - Carol Taylor
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Kirsty James
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Matea Balabanovska
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Sophie Langhorne
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Catherine Aldred
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Vicky Slonims
- Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundations Trust, London, UK
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Vicki Grahame
- Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service (CNDS), Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Patricia Howlin
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Helen McConachie
- Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | - Jeremy Parr
- Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
- Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service (CNDS), Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
- Great North Children's Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Richard Emsley
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Ann Le Couteur
- Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | - Jonathan Green
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, Manchester Royal Children's Hospital, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Andrew Pickles
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
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Zhai S, Otsuka S, Xu J, Clarke VRJ, Tkatch T, Wokosin D, Xie Z, Tanimura A, Agarwal HK, Ellis-Davies GCR, Contractor A, Surmeier DJ. Ca 2+ -dependent phosphodiesterase 1 regulates the plasticity of striatal spiny projection neuron glutamatergic synapses. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.24.590962. [PMID: 38712260 PMCID: PMC11071484 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.24.590962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Long-term synaptic plasticity at glutamatergic synapses on striatal spiny projection neurons (SPNs) is central to learning goal-directed behaviors and habits. Although considerable attention has been paid to the mechanisms underlying synaptic strengthening and new learning, little scrutiny has been given to those involved in the attenuation of synaptic strength that attends suppression of a previously learned association. Our studies revealed a novel, non-Hebbian, long-term, postsynaptic depression of glutamatergic SPN synapses induced by interneuronal nitric oxide (NO) signaling (NO-LTD) that was preferentially engaged at quiescent synapses. This form of plasticity was gated by local Ca 2+ influx through CaV1.3 Ca 2+ channels and stimulation of phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1), which degraded cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and blunted NO signaling. Consistent with this model, mice harboring a gain-of-function mutation in the gene coding for the pore-forming subunit of CaV1.3 channels had elevated depolarization-induced dendritic Ca 2+ entry and impaired NO-LTD. Extracellular uncaging of glutamate and intracellular uncaging of cGMP suggested that this Ca 2+ -dependent regulation of PDE1 activity allowed for local regulation of dendritic NO signaling. This inference was supported by simulation of SPN dendritic integration, which revealed that dendritic spikes engaged PDE1 in a branch-specific manner. In a mouse model of Parkinson's disease (PD), NO-LTD was absent not because of a postsynaptic deficit in NO signaling machinery, but rather due to impaired interneuronal NO release. Re-balancing intrastriatal neuromodulatory signaling in the PD model restored NO release and NO-LTD. Taken together, these studies provide novel insights into the mechanisms governing NO-LTD in SPN and its role in psychomotor disorders, like PD.
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A Boyd B, Howard W, W Bodfish J, Lecavalier L, Harrop C, Jones D, Dallman A, Nagabhushan Kalburgi S, Hollway J. Examining Sensitivity to Developmental Changes on the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1058-1067. [PMID: 36484964 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05837-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE The study objective was to determine if the validated Behavioral Inflexibility Scale (BIS) is sensitive to the detection of developmental changes in inflexibility in a sample of autistic children. METHODS Parents of autistic children (n = 146, 3-17 years) completed the BIS at two time points, one year apart, to examine change. RESULTS The findings indicate the BIS is sensitive to the detection of developmental changes and that child-level variables are not associated with those changes. Children's Time 1 BIS scores predicted children's severity on an independent outcome measure. Finally, a relationship between total services children were receiving and change in BIS scores over time was not found. CONCLUSION The findings suggest the BIS is a reasonable candidate for consideration as an outcome measure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian A Boyd
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
| | - Waylon Howard
- University of Kansas, Juniper Gardens Children's Project, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - James W Bodfish
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Luc Lecavalier
- Ohio State University, Nisonger Center, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Clare Harrop
- Department of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Desiree Jones
- Department of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Aaron Dallman
- Department of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Jill Hollway
- Ohio State University, Nisonger Center, Columbus, OH, USA
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Siemann J, Kroeger A, Bender S, Muthuraman M, Siniatchkin M. Segregated Dynamical Networks for Biological Motion Perception in the Mu and Beta Range Underlie Social Deficits in Autism. Diagnostics (Basel) 2024; 14:408. [PMID: 38396447 PMCID: PMC10887711 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics14040408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Biological motion perception (BMP) correlating with a mirror neuron system (MNS) is attenuated in underage individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While BMP in typically-developing controls (TDCs) encompasses interconnected MNS structures, ASD data hint at segregated form and motion processing. This coincides with less fewer long-range connections in ASD than TDC. Using BMP and electroencephalography (EEG) in ASD, we characterized directionality and coherence (mu and beta frequencies). Deficient BMP may stem from desynchronization thereof in MNS and may predict social-communicative deficits in ASD. Clinical considerations thus profit from brain-behavior associations. METHODS Point-like walkers elicited BMP using 15 white dots (walker vs. scramble in 21 ASD (mean: 11.3 ± 2.3 years) vs. 23 TDC (mean: 11.9 ± 2.5 years). Dynamic Imaging of Coherent Sources (DICS) characterized the underlying EEG time-frequency causality through time-resolved Partial Directed Coherence (tPDC). Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification validated the group effects (ASD vs. TDC). RESULTS TDC showed MNS sources and long-distance paths (both feedback and bidirectional); ASD demonstrated distinct from and motion sources, predominantly local feedforward connectivity, and weaker coherence. Brain-behavior correlations point towards dysfunctional networks. SVM successfully classified ASD regarding EEG and performance. CONCLUSION ASD participants showed segregated local networks for BMP potentially underlying thwarted complex social interactions. Alternative explanations include selective attention and global-local processing deficits. SIGNIFICANCE This is the first study applying source-based connectivity to reveal segregated BMP networks in ASD regarding structure, cognition, frequencies, and temporal dynamics that may explain socio-communicative aberrancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Siemann
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelical Hospital Bielefeld, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany;
| | - Anne Kroeger
- Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main, 60389 Frankfurt, Germany (S.B.)
| | - Stephan Bender
- Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main, 60389 Frankfurt, Germany (S.B.)
- Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
| | - Muthuraman Muthuraman
- Department of Neurology, Neural Engineering with Signal Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (NESA-AI), University Clinic Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany;
| | - Michael Siniatchkin
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelical Hospital Bielefeld, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany;
- University Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
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Lage C, Smith ES, Lawson RP. A meta-analysis of cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 157:105511. [PMID: 38104788 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive flexibility is a fundamental process that underlies adaptive behaviour in response to environmental change. Studies examining the profile of cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reported inconsistent findings. To address whether difficulties with cognitive flexibility are characteristic of autism, we conducted a random-effects meta-analysis and employed subgroup analyses and meta-regression to assess the impact of relevant moderator variables such as task, outcomes, and age. Fifty-nine studies were included and comprised of 2122 autistic individuals without intellectual disabilities and 2036 neurotypical controls, with an age range of 4 to 85 years. The results showed that autistic individuals have greater difficulties with cognitive flexibility, with an overall statistically significant small to moderate effect size. Subgroup analyses revealed a significant difference between task outcomes, with perseverative errors obtaining the largest effect size. In summary, the present meta-analysis highlights the existence of cognitive flexibility difficulties in autistic people, in the absence of learning disabilities, but also that this profile is characterised by substantial heterogeneity. Potential contributing factors are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Lage
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Eleanor S Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca P Lawson
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
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11
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Akama F, Mikami K, Orihashi Y, Takase S, Hanawa K, Nishikawa K, Watanabe N, Kimoto K, Takahashi Y, Onishi Y, Salas J, Yamamoto K, Ueno S. Psychiatric Features of Children with Chronic Functional Constipation: Focusing on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-023-06228-8. [PMID: 38265573 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06228-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The present study aimed to assess the psychiatric characteristics of children with chronic functional constipation using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Japanese version and the Pervasive Developmental Disorders/Autism Society Japan Rating Scale, and to examine the frequency of autism spectrum disorder in children with chronic functional constipation. We also investigated differences in treatment duration between children with and without autism spectrum disorder. METHODS Treatment outcomes were examined retrospectively for 55 participants (chronic functional constipation group: n = 30, mean age 3.4 years; control group: n = 25, mean age, 4.5 years). The association between chronic functional constipation and autism spectrum disorder was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS The mean Aberrant Behavior Checklist score and frequency of individuals with autism spectrum disorder were significantly higher in the chronic functional constipation group. After adjusting for age and sex, chronic functional constipation was significantly associated with autism spectrum disorder. In the chronic functional constipation group, the frequency of onset was significantly higher in children with autism spectrum disorder under 1 year of age. When treated, the mean duration of constipation was significantly longer in children with autism spectrum disorder. CONCLUSION Pediatricians, pediatric surgeons, and child psychiatrists should work closely to ensure appropriate treatment of chronic functional constipation in children with autism spectrum disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fumiaki Akama
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Katsunaka Mikami
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
| | - Yasushi Orihashi
- Division of Clinical Research, Kitasato University Hospital, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-0375, Japan
| | - Syunya Takase
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Kyuta Hanawa
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Keita Nishikawa
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Natsuru Watanabe
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Keitaro Kimoto
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Yuki Takahashi
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Yuichi Onishi
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Juan Salas
- Cancer and Blood Disease Institute, Division of Oncology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Ave ML2011, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA
| | - Kenji Yamamoto
- Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Shigeru Ueno
- Pediatric Surgery, Tokai University, Tokai University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
- Division of General Medicine, Okamura Isshindow Hospital, 1-7, 2-chome, Saidaiji-Minami, Okayama City, 704-8117, Okayama, Japan
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12
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Howlett CA, Miles S, Berryman C, Phillipou A, Moseley GL. Conflation between self-report and neurocognitive assessments of cognitive flexibility: a critical review of the Jingle Fallacy. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/00049530.2023.2174684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/21/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin A. Howlett
- Innovation, Implementation & Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Kaurna Country, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Stephanie Miles
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Carolyn Berryman
- Innovation, Implementation & Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Kaurna Country, Adelaide, Australia
- Brain Stimulation, Imaging and Cognition Research Group, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Andrea Phillipou
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Mental Health, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Mental Health, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
| | - G. Lorimer Moseley
- Innovation, Implementation & Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Kaurna Country, Adelaide, Australia
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13
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Arakawa H. Revisiting sociability: Factors facilitating approach and avoidance during the three-chamber test. Physiol Behav 2023; 272:114373. [PMID: 37805136 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/09/2023]
Abstract
The three-chamber test, the so-called sociability test, has been widely used to assess social deficits based on impaired socially oriented investigations in rodent models. An innate motivation for investigating conspecifics is theoretically a prerequisite for gaining sociability scores in this paradigm. However, several relevant factors mediating investigatory motives, such as familiarity, attractiveness, and aggression, may affect sociability scores, which must be verified to obtain an adequate evaluation of the psychiatric phenotypes exhibited by disease-relevant rodent models. We assessed the social and non-social factors that mediate proximity preference by the three-chamber test with standard C57BL/6 J (B6) mice and low sociability BTBR+ltpr3tf/J (BTBR) mice. Strains of the opponents had no effect. Sexual cues (i.e., opposite sex) increased proximity preference in both strains of mice; in contrast, novel objects induced an approach in B6 mice but avoidance in BTBR mice. Single-housing before testing, stimulated social motive, affected BTBR mice but not B6 mice. BTBR females showed increased proximity preference across the sessions, and BTBR males showed increased preference toward a male B6 stimulus, but not a male BTBR stimulus. The male preference was restored when the male BTBR stimulus was anesthetized. In addition, self-grooming was facilitated by social and non-social novelty cues in both strains. B6 mice predominantly exhibited an investigatory approach toward social or non-social stimuli, whereas BTBR mice recognized social cues but tended to show avoidance. The three-chamber test could evaluate approach-avoidance strategies in target mouse strains that comprise innate social distance between mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroyuki Arakawa
- Department Systems Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
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14
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Mosconi MW, Stevens CJ, Unruh KE, Shafer R, Elison JT. Endophenotype trait domains for advancing gene discovery in autism spectrum disorder. J Neurodev Disord 2023; 15:41. [PMID: 37993779 PMCID: PMC10664534 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-023-09511-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with a diverse range of etiological processes, including both genetic and non-genetic causes. For a plurality of individuals with ASD, it is likely that the primary causes involve multiple common inherited variants that individually account for only small levels of variation in phenotypic outcomes. This genetic landscape creates a major challenge for detecting small but important pathogenic effects associated with ASD. To address similar challenges, separate fields of medicine have identified endophenotypes, or discrete, quantitative traits that reflect genetic likelihood for a particular clinical condition and leveraged the study of these traits to map polygenic mechanisms and advance more personalized therapeutic strategies for complex diseases. Endophenotypes represent a distinct class of biomarkers useful for understanding genetic contributions to psychiatric and developmental disorders because they are embedded within the causal chain between genotype and clinical phenotype, and they are more proximal to the action of the gene(s) than behavioral traits. Despite their demonstrated power for guiding new understanding of complex genetic structures of clinical conditions, few endophenotypes associated with ASD have been identified and integrated into family genetic studies. In this review, we argue that advancing knowledge of the complex pathogenic processes that contribute to ASD can be accelerated by refocusing attention toward identifying endophenotypic traits reflective of inherited mechanisms. This pivot requires renewed emphasis on study designs with measurement of familial co-variation including infant sibling studies, family trio and quad designs, and analysis of monozygotic and dizygotic twin concordance for select trait dimensions. We also emphasize that clarification of endophenotypic traits necessarily will involve integration of transdiagnostic approaches as candidate traits likely reflect liability for multiple clinical conditions and often are agnostic to diagnostic boundaries. Multiple candidate endophenotypes associated with ASD likelihood are described, and we propose a new focus on the analysis of "endophenotype trait domains" (ETDs), or traits measured across multiple levels (e.g., molecular, cellular, neural system, neuropsychological) along the causal pathway from genes to behavior. To inform our central argument for research efforts toward ETD discovery, we first provide a brief review of the concept of endophenotypes and their application to psychiatry. Next, we highlight key criteria for determining the value of candidate endophenotypes, including unique considerations for the study of ASD. Descriptions of different study designs for assessing endophenotypes in ASD research then are offered, including analysis of how select patterns of results may help prioritize candidate traits in future research. We also present multiple candidate ETDs that collectively cover a breadth of clinical phenomena associated with ASD, including social, language/communication, cognitive control, and sensorimotor processes. These ETDs are described because they represent promising targets for gene discovery related to clinical autistic traits, and they serve as models for analysis of separate candidate domains that may inform understanding of inherited etiological processes associated with ASD as well as overlapping neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew W Mosconi
- Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART), University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
- Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
| | - Cassandra J Stevens
- Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART), University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
- Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Kathryn E Unruh
- Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART), University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Robin Shafer
- Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART), University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Jed T Elison
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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15
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Önal S, Sachadyn-Król M, Kostecka M. A Review of the Nutritional Approach and the Role of Dietary Components in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Light of the Latest Scientific Research. Nutrients 2023; 15:4852. [PMID: 38068711 PMCID: PMC10708497 DOI: 10.3390/nu15234852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects several areas of mental development. The onset of ASD occurs in the first few years of life, usually before the age of 3 years. Proper nutrition is important to ensure that an individual's nutrient and energy requirements are met, and it can also have a moderating effect on the progression of the disorder. A systematic database search was conducted as a narrative review to determine whether nutrition and specific diets can potentially alter gastrointestinal symptoms and neurobehavioral disorders. Databases such as Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar were searched to find studies published between 2000 and September 2023 on the relationship between ASD, dietary approaches, and the role of dietary components. The review may indicate that despite extensive research into dietary interventions, there is a general lack of conclusive scientific data about the effect of therapeutic diets on ASD; therefore, no definitive recommendation can be made for any specific nutritional therapy as a standard treatment for ASD. An individualized dietary approach and the dietician's role in the therapeutic team are very important elements of every therapy. Parents and caregivers should work with nutrition specialists, such as registered dietitians or healthcare providers, to design meal plans for autistic individuals, especially those who would like to implement an elimination diet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seda Önal
- Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Health Sciences Institute, Ankara University, 06110 Ankara, Turkey;
- Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Fırat University, 23200 Elazığ, Turkey
| | - Monika Sachadyn-Król
- Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, 20-950 Lublin, Poland;
| | - Małgorzata Kostecka
- Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, 20-950 Lublin, Poland;
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16
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Schröder SS, Danner UN, Spek AA, van Elburg AA. Exploring the intersection of autism spectrum disorder and eating disorders: understanding the unique challenges and treatment considerations for autistic women with eating disorders. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2023; 36:419-426. [PMID: 37781983 DOI: 10.1097/yco.0000000000000894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Autistic women struggle with high levels of both autistic eating behaviours and disordered eating behaviours , which might make them particularly vulnerable to develop eating disorders. Research investigating the presence and characteristics of eating disorders in autistic women is however limited, as is research examining the role of autism in the treatment and recovery of an eating disorder in autistic women. RECENT FINDINGS The link between autism and eating disorders has mainly been investigated from the field of eating disorder research, with studies finding an overrepresentation of autism or autistic traits in eating disorders populations. Findings also suggest that autism or autistic traits are associated with a more serious presentation of the eating disorders, including a higher chance of a chronic course of the eating disorders. Most studies however lack comprehensive autism assessments, making it difficult to determine the actual prevalence of autism and its role in women with eating disorders. SUMMARY Autistic women with an eating disorder seem to suffer from more complex eating disorders and seem to not benefit from current treatment modalities. This could be partly related to specific autism characteristics such as sensory sensitivities, which are not being considered by current treatment protocols. Future research needs to shed light on what underlies the eating behaviours of autistic women with an eating disorder, in order to help to adapt current treatment modalities to meet the unique needs of these women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina S Schröder
- Altrecht Eating Disorders Rintveld, Zeist
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht
| | - Unna N Danner
- Altrecht Eating Disorders Rintveld, Zeist
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht
| | - Annelies A Spek
- Autism Expert Center, Goyergracht Zuid 39, Eemnes, The Netherlands
| | - Annemarie A van Elburg
- Altrecht Eating Disorders Rintveld, Zeist
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht
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17
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Ritchey CM, Jimenez-Gomez C, Podlesnik CA. Effects of pay rate and instructions on attrition in crowdsourcing research. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0292372. [PMID: 37792848 PMCID: PMC10550147 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Researchers in social sciences increasingly rely on crowdsourcing marketplaces such as Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and Prolific to facilitate rapid, low-cost data collection from large samples. However, crowdsourcing suffers from high attrition, threatening the validity of crowdsourced studies. Separate studies have demonstrated that (1) higher pay rates and (2) additional instructions-i.e., informing participants about task requirements, asking for personal information, and describing the negative impact of attrition on research quality-can reduce attrition rates with MTurk participants. The present study extended research on these possible remedies for attrition to Prolific, another crowdsourcing marketplace with strict requirements for participant pay. We randomly assigned 225 participants to one of four groups. Across groups, we evaluated effects of pay rates commensurate with or double the US minimum wage, expanding the upper range of this independent variable; two groups also received additional instructions. Higher pay reduced attrition and correlated with more accurate performance on experimental tasks but we observed no effect of additional instructions. Overall, our findings suggest that effects of increased pay on attrition generalize to higher minimum pay rates and across crowdsourcing platforms. In contrast, effects of additional instructions might not generalize across task durations, task types, or crowdsourcing platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn M. Ritchey
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States of America
| | - Corina Jimenez-Gomez
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
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18
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Ong JH, Liu F. Probabilistic Learning of Cue-Outcome Associations is not Influenced by Autistic Traits. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:4047-4059. [PMID: 35951205 PMCID: PMC9366807 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05690-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
According to Bayesian/predictive coding models of autism, autistic individuals may have difficulties learning probabilistic cue-outcome associations, but empirical evidence has been mixed. The target cues used in previous studies were often straightforward and might not reflect real-life learning of such associations which requires learners to infer which cue(s) among many to track. Across two experiments, we compared adult learners with varying levels of autistic traits on their ability to infer the correct cue to learn probabilistic cue-outcome associations when explicitly instructed to do so or when exposed implicitly. We found no evidence for the effect of autistic traits on probabilistic learning accuracy, contrary to the predictions of Bayesian/predictive coding models. Implications for the current Bayesian/predictive coding models are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Hoong Ong
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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19
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Leung BK, Merlin S, Walker AK, Lawther AJ, Paxinos G, Eapen V, Clarke R, Balleine BW, Furlong TM. Immp2l knockdown in male mice increases stimulus-driven instrumental behaviour but does not alter goal-directed learning or neuron density in cortico-striatal circuits in a model of Tourette syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Behav Brain Res 2023; 452:114610. [PMID: 37541448 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/06/2023]
Abstract
Cortico-striatal neurocircuits mediate goal-directed and habitual actions which are necessary for adaptive behaviour. It has recently been proposed that some of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), such as tics and other repetitive behaviours, may emerge because of imbalances in these neurocircuits. We have recently developed a model of ASD and GTS by knocking down Immp2l, a mitochondrial gene frequently associated with these disorders. The current study sought to determine whether Immp2l knockdown (KD) in male mice alters flexible, goal- or cue- driven behaviour using procedures specifically designed to examine response-outcome and stimulus-response associations, which underlie goal-directed and habitual behaviour, respectively. Whether Immp2l KD alters neuron density in cortico-striatal neurocircuits known to regulate these behaviours was also examined. Immp2l KD mice and wild type-like mice (WT) were trained on Pavlovian and instrumental learning procedures where auditory cues predicted food delivery and lever-press responses earned a food outcome. It was demonstrated that goal-directed learning was not changed for Immp2l KD mice compared to WT mice, as lever-press responses were sensitive to changes in the value of the food outcome, and to contingency reversal and degradation. There was also no difference in the capacity of KD mice to form habitual behaviours compared to WT mice following extending training of the instrumental action. However, Immp2l KD mice were more responsive to auditory stimuli paired with food as indicated by a non-specific increase in lever response rates during Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. Finally, there were no alterations to neuron density in striatum or any prefrontal cortex or limbic brain structures examined. Thus, the current study suggests that Immp2l is not necessary for learned maladaptive goal or stimulus driven behaviours in ASD or GTS, but that it may contribute to increased capacity for external stimuli to drive behaviour. Alterations to stimulus-driven behaviour could potentially influence the expression of tics and repetitive behaviours, suggesting that genetic alterations to Immp2l may contribute to these core symptoms in ASD and GTS. Given that this is the first application of this battery of instrumental learning procedures to a mouse model of ASD or GTS, it is an important initial step in determining the contribution of known risk-genes to goal-directed versus habitual behaviours, which should be more broadly applied to other rodent models of ASD and GTS in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatrice K Leung
- Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Sam Merlin
- School of Science, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Adam K Walker
- Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
| | - Adam J Lawther
- Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia
| | - George Paxinos
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Valsamma Eapen
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia; Mental Health Research Unit, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool, Australia
| | - Raymond Clarke
- Ingham Institute, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Bernard W Balleine
- Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Teri M Furlong
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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20
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McNair ML, Keenan EG, Houck AP, Lerner MD. Seeking contexts that promote neurodiverse social success: Patterns of behavior during minimally-structured interaction settings in autistic and non-autistic youth. Dev Psychopathol 2023:1-16. [PMID: 37593821 PMCID: PMC10874463 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579423000950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
While peer interaction differences are considered a central feature of autism, little is known regarding the nature of these interactions via directly-observed measurement of naturalistic (i.e., minimally-structured) groups of autistic and non-autistic adolescent peers. 148 autistic and non-autistic adolescents (111 male, Mage = 14.22, SDage = 1.90; MIQ = 103.22, SDIQ = 15.80) participated in a 50-minute, minimally-structured, naturalistic peer interaction paradigm with activities of varying social demands: an incidental social demand (eating in a room with peers), a physical social demand (playing a physically-interactive game), and a verbal social demand (playing a verbal game). While autistic youth exhibited fewer overall interaction behaviors than non-autistic youth, the two groups did not differ in amount of positive, negative, and low-level interaction behaviors. Within activities, autistic and non-autistic youth only differed in positive interaction behaviors during the context of a verbal social demand. Youth who displayed more positive interaction behaviors during this same activity had less autism spectrum disorder symptomatology, controlling for nested group effects and relevant covariates. These results point toward subtle differences in social demands across naturalistic settings that can either support or impede prosocial interaction for autistic youth, providing a guidepost for identifying settings that best promote social success for neurodiverse populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morgan L McNair
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Elliot Gavin Keenan
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
- Department of Human Development & Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Abigail P Houck
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Matthew D Lerner
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
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21
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Liu J, Chang H, Abrams DA, Kang JB, Chen L, Rosenberg-Lee M, Menon V. Atypical cognitive training-induced learning and brain plasticity and their relation to insistence on sameness in children with autism. eLife 2023; 12:e86035. [PMID: 37534879 PMCID: PMC10550286 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often display atypical learning styles; however, little is known regarding learning-related brain plasticity and its relation to clinical phenotypic features. Here, we investigate cognitive learning and neural plasticity using functional brain imaging and a novel numerical problem-solving training protocol. Children with ASD showed comparable learning relative to typically developing children but were less likely to shift from rule-based to memory-based strategy. While learning gains in typically developing children were associated with greater plasticity of neural representations in the medial temporal lobe and intraparietal sulcus, learning in children with ASD was associated with more stable neural representations. Crucially, the relation between learning and plasticity of neural representations was moderated by insistence on sameness, a core phenotypic feature of ASD. Our study uncovers atypical cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying learning in children with ASD, and informs pedagogical strategies for nurturing cognitive abilities in childhood autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Liu
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - Hyesang Chang
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - Daniel A Abrams
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - Julia Boram Kang
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - Lang Chen
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
- Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, United States
| | - Miriam Rosenberg-Lee
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, United States
| | - Vinod Menon
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
- Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford, United States
- Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
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22
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Teneqexhi P, Khalid A, Nisbett KE, Job GA, Messer WS, Ragozzino ME. The Partial M 1 Muscarinic Cholinergic Receptor Agonist, CDD-0102A, Differentially Modulates Glutamate Efflux in Striatal Subregions during Stereotyped Motor Behavior in the BTBR Mouse Model of Autism. ACS Chem Neurosci 2023; 14:2699-2709. [PMID: 37434313 PMCID: PMC10401636 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J (BTBR) mouse displays elevated repetitive motor behaviors. Treatment with the partial M1 muscarinic receptor agonist, CDD-0102A, attenuates stereotyped motor behaviors in BTBR mice. The present experiment investigated whether CDD-0102A modifies changes in striatal glutamate concentrations during stereotyped motor behavior in BTBR and B6 mice. Using glutamate biosensors, change in striatal glutamate efflux was measured during bouts of digging and grooming behavior with a 1 s time resolution. Mice displayed both decreases and increases in glutamate efflux during such behaviors. Magnitude of changes in glutamate efflux (decreases and increases) from dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum were significantly greater in BTBR mice compared to those of B6 mice. In BTBR mice, CDD-0102A (1.2 mg/kg) administered 30 min prior to testing significantly reduced the magnitude change in glutamate decreases and increases from the dorsolateral striatum and decreased grooming behavior. Conversely, CDD-0102A treatment in B6 mice potentiated glutamate decreases and increases in the dorsolateral striatum and elevated grooming behavior. The findings suggest that activation of M1 muscarinic receptors modifies glutamate transmission in the dorsolateral striatum and self-grooming behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela Teneqexhi
- Department
of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Alina Khalid
- Department
of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Khalin E. Nisbett
- Department
of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
- Graduate
Program in Neuroscience, University of Illinois
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Greeshma A. Job
- Department
of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - William S. Messer
- Departments
of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Medicinal and Biological
Chemistry, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606, United States
| | - Michael E. Ragozzino
- Department
of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
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23
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Lupi E, Tucci F, Casula L, Novello RL, Guerrera S, Vicari S, Valeri G. Early and stable difficulties of everyday executive functions predict autism symptoms and emotional/behavioral problems in preschool age children with autism: a 2-year longitudinal study. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1092164. [PMID: 37583604 PMCID: PMC10425204 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1092164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Longitudinal studies of autistic children show that autism symptoms and emotional/behavioral problems vary and change over time. However, the factors that affect this variability remain far from certain and very little is known about what take place in the preschool period and the role of executive functions (EF). Methods Here, we test the influence of stable difficulties in everyday executive functioning (EEF) during early childhood across 2 years on autistic symptoms and emotional and behavioral problems. Twenty-nine autistic children (24 males and 5 females) were assessed twice within the space of 2 years. At baseline (M = 29 months, SD =5.6 months), participants were assessed for EEF, cognitive development, autistic symptoms, and emotional/behavioral problems. At follow-up, we repeated the same assessment except for cognitive development. Results The group with stable difficulties (across 2 years) in EEF during early childhood showed a worsening in the severity of autistic symptoms and emotional and behavioral problems compared with children without EEF difficulties (p < 0.05), and these effects cannot be attributable to cognitive development. Discussion Our results suggest that early and stable EEF plays the role of a modifier by interacting with the core domains of autism, in particular with the social affect domain (SA CSS), influencing social cognition and exacerbating or lessening symptom expression and emotional behavioral problems. These short-term longitudinal and preliminary findings underscore the importance of EEF as necessary target for early intervention in children with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Lupi
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Federico Tucci
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Casula
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Roberta Lucia Novello
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Guerrera
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Vicari
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Giovanni Valeri
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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24
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Kreis I, Zhang L, Mittner M, Syla L, Lamm C, Pfuhl G. Aberrant uncertainty processing is linked to psychotic-like experiences, autistic traits, and is reflected in pupil dilation during probabilistic learning. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023:10.3758/s13415-023-01088-2. [PMID: 36977966 PMCID: PMC10390366 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01088-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Aberrant belief updating due to misestimation of uncertainty and an increased perception of the world as volatile (i.e., unstable) has been found in autism and psychotic disorders. Pupil dilation tracks events that warrant belief updating, likely reflecting the adjustment of neural gain. However, whether subclinical autistic or psychotic symptoms affect this adjustment and how they relate to learning in volatile environments remains to be unraveled. We investigated the relationship between behavioral and pupillometric markers of subjective volatility (i.e., experience of the world as unstable), autistic traits, and psychotic-like experiences in 52 neurotypical adults with a probabilistic reversal learning task. Computational modeling revealed that participants with higher psychotic-like experience scores overestimated volatility in low-volatile task periods. This was not the case for participants scoring high on autistic-like traits, who instead showed a diminished adaptation of choice-switching behavior in response to risk. Pupillometric data indicated that individuals with higher autistic- or psychotic-like trait and experience scores differentiated less between events that warrant belief updating and those that do not when volatility was high. These findings are in line with misestimation of uncertainty accounts of psychosis and autism spectrum disorders and indicate that aberrancies are already present at the subclinical level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Kreis
- Department of Psychology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
- NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
| | - Lei Zhang
- Department of Psychology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthias Mittner
- Department of Psychology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Leonard Syla
- Department of Psychology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Gerit Pfuhl
- Department of Psychology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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25
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van der Plas E, Mason D, Happé F. Decision-making in autism: A narrative review. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2023:13623613221148010. [PMID: 36794463 DOI: 10.1177/13623613221148010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
LAY SUMMARY Many autistic people report difficulties with real-life decision-making. However, when doing decision-making tests in laboratory experiments, autistic people often perform as well or better than non-autistic people. We review previously published studies on autistic people's decision-making, across different types of tests, to understand what type of decision-making is more challenging. To do this, we searched four databases of research papers. We found 104 studies that tested, in total, 2712 autistic and 3189 comparison participants on different decision-making tasks. We found that there were four categories of decision-making tests that were used in these experiments: perceptual (e.g. deciding which image has the most dots); reward learning (e.g. learning which deck of cards gives the best reward); metacognition (e.g. knowing how well you perform or what you want); and value-based (e.g. making a decision based on a choice between two outcomes that differ in value to you). Overall, these studies suggest that autistic and comparison participants tend to perform similarly well at perceptual and reward-learning decisions. However, autistic participants tended to decide differently from comparison participants on metacognition and value-based paradigms. This suggests that autistic people might differ from typically developing controls in how they evaluate their own performance and in how they make decisions based on weighing up the subjective value of two different options. We suggest these reflect more general differences in metacognition, thinking about thinking, in autism.
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26
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Vibert B, Segura P, Gallagher L, Georgiades S, Pervanidou P, Thurm A, Alexander L, Anagnostou E, Aoki Y, Birken CS, Bishop SL, Boi J, Bravaccio C, Brentani H, Canevini P, Carta A, Charach A, Costantino A, Cost KT, Cravo EA, Crosbie J, Davico C, Donno F, Fujino J, Gabellone A, Geyer CT, Hirota T, Kanne S, Kawashima M, Kelley E, Kim H, Kim YS, Kim SH, Korczak DJ, Lai MC, Margari L, Marzulli L, Masi G, Mazzone L, McGrath J, Monga S, Morosini P, Nakajima S, Narzisi A, Nicolson R, Nikolaidis A, Noda Y, Nowell K, Polizzi M, Portolese J, Riccio MP, Saito M, Schwartz I, Simhal AK, Siracusano M, Sotgiu S, Stroud J, Sumiya F, Tachibana Y, Takahashi N, Takahashi R, Tamon H, Tancredi R, Vitiello B, Zuddas A, Leventhal B, Merikangas K, Milham MP, Di Martino A. CRISIS AFAR: an international collaborative study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and service access in youth with autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. Mol Autism 2023; 14:7. [PMID: 36788583 PMCID: PMC9928142 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-022-00536-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Heterogeneous mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic are documented in the general population. Such heterogeneity has not been systematically assessed in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). To identify distinct patterns of the pandemic impact and their predictors in ASD/NDD youth, we focused on pandemic-related changes in symptoms and access to services. METHODS Using a naturalistic observational design, we assessed parent responses on the Coronavirus Health and Impact Survey Initiative (CRISIS) Adapted For Autism and Related neurodevelopmental conditions (AFAR). Cross-sectional AFAR data were aggregated across 14 European and North American sites yielding a clinically well-characterized sample of N = 1275 individuals with ASD/NDD (age = 11.0 ± 3.6 years; n females = 277). To identify subgroups with differential outcomes, we applied hierarchical clustering across eleven variables measuring changes in symptoms and access to services. Then, random forest classification assessed the importance of socio-demographics, pre-pandemic service rates, clinical severity of ASD-associated symptoms, and COVID-19 pandemic experiences/environments in predicting the outcome subgroups. RESULTS Clustering revealed four subgroups. One subgroup-broad symptom worsening only (20%)-included youth with worsening across a range of symptoms but with service disruptions similar to the average of the aggregate sample. The other three subgroups were, relatively, clinically stable but differed in service access: primarily modified services (23%), primarily lost services (6%), and average services/symptom changes (53%). Distinct combinations of a set of pre-pandemic services, pandemic environment (e.g., COVID-19 new cases, restrictions), experiences (e.g., COVID-19 Worries), and age predicted each outcome subgroup. LIMITATIONS Notable limitations of the study are its cross-sectional nature and focus on the first six months of the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS Concomitantly assessing variation in changes of symptoms and service access during the first phase of the pandemic revealed differential outcome profiles in ASD/NDD youth. Subgroups were characterized by distinct prediction patterns across a set of pre- and pandemic-related experiences/contexts. Results may inform recovery efforts and preparedness in future crises; they also underscore the critical value of international data-sharing and collaborations to address the needs of those most vulnerable in times of crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany Vibert
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Autism Center, Child Mind Institute, 101 E 56Th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY USA
| | - Patricia Segura
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Autism Center, Child Mind Institute, 101 E 56Th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY USA
| | - Louise Gallagher
- grid.8217.c0000 0004 1936 9705Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Stelios Georgiades
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON Canada
| | - Panagiota Pervanidou
- Unit of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | - Audrey Thurm
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD USA
| | - Lindsay Alexander
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY USA
| | - Evdokia Anagnostou
- grid.414294.e0000 0004 0572 4702Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Yuta Aoki
- grid.410714.70000 0000 8864 3422Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Catherine S. Birken
- grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Division of Paediatric Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Somer L. Bishop
- grid.266102.10000 0001 2297 6811Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Jessica Boi
- grid.7763.50000 0004 1755 3242Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience & Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Carmela Bravaccio
- grid.4691.a0000 0001 0790 385XUOSD di Neuropsichiatria Infantile - Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche Traslazionali, Università Federico II di Napoli, Naples, Italy
| | - Helena Brentani
- grid.11899.380000 0004 1937 0722Department of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paola Canevini
- grid.4708.b0000 0004 1757 2822Department of Health Sciences, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Milan, Italy ,grid.415093.a0000 0004 1793 3800Epilepsy Center - Sleep Medicine Center, Childhood and Adolescence Neuropsychiatry Unit, ASST SS. Paolo E Carlo, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandra Carta
- Department of Medical, Surgical and Pharmacy, Unit of Child Neuropsychiatry, University Hospital of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Alice Charach
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Antonella Costantino
- grid.414818.00000 0004 1757 8749Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Unit, Foundation IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Katherine T. Cost
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Elaine A Cravo
- grid.20736.300000 0001 1941 472XUFPR - Federal University of Paraná, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Jennifer Crosbie
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Chiara Davico
- grid.7605.40000 0001 2336 6580Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Section of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Federica Donno
- grid.7763.50000 0004 1755 3242Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience & Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Junya Fujino
- grid.265073.50000 0001 1014 9130Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Alessandra Gabellone
- grid.7644.10000 0001 0120 3326Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, (DiMePRe-J), University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
| | - Cristiane T Geyer
- grid.20736.300000 0001 1941 472XUFPR - Federal University of Paraná, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Tomoya Hirota
- grid.266102.10000 0001 2297 6811Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA ,grid.257016.70000 0001 0673 6172Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
| | - Stephen Kanne
- grid.5386.8000000041936877XDepartment of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, New York, NY USA
| | | | - Elizabeth Kelley
- grid.410356.50000 0004 1936 8331Department of Psychology, Queens University, Kingston, ON Canada
| | - Hosanna Kim
- grid.266102.10000 0001 2297 6811The UCSF Center for ASD & NDDs, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Young Shin Kim
- grid.266102.10000 0001 2297 6811The UCSF Center for ASD & NDDs, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - So Hyun Kim
- grid.222754.40000 0001 0840 2678School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Daphne J. Korczak
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Meng-Chuan Lai
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.5335.00000000121885934Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK ,grid.155956.b0000 0000 8793 5925Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.412094.a0000 0004 0572 7815Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Lucia Margari
- grid.7644.10000 0001 0120 3326Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, (DiMePRe-J), University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
| | - Lucia Marzulli
- grid.7644.10000 0001 0120 3326Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, (DiMePRe-J), University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
| | - Gabriele Masi
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Calambrone-Pisa, Italy
| | - Luigi Mazzone
- grid.6530.00000 0001 2300 0941Child Neurology and Psychiatry Unit, Systems Medicine Department, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Jane McGrath
- grid.8217.c0000 0004 1936 9705Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland ,39ADMiRE, Linn Dara Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Cherry Orchard Hospital, Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Suneeta Monga
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Paola Morosini
- Unita’ Operativa di Neuropsichiatria dell’ Infanzia e dell’ adolescenza, Lodi, Italy
| | - Shinichiro Nakajima
- grid.26091.3c0000 0004 1936 9959Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Rob Nicolson
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Aki Nikolaidis
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY USA
| | - Yoshihiro Noda
- grid.26091.3c0000 0004 1936 9959Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kerri Nowell
- grid.134936.a0000 0001 2162 3504Thompson Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO USA
| | - Miriam Polizzi
- grid.4691.a0000 0001 0790 385XUOSD di Neuropsichiatria Infantile - Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche Traslazionali, Università Federico II di Napoli, Naples, Italy
| | - Joana Portolese
- grid.11899.380000 0004 1937 0722Department of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Maria Pia Riccio
- grid.4691.a0000 0001 0790 385XUOSD di Neuropsichiatria Infantile - Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche Traslazionali, Università Federico II di Napoli, Naples, Italy
| | - Manabu Saito
- grid.257016.70000 0001 0673 6172Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan ,grid.257016.70000 0001 0673 6172Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan ,grid.257016.70000 0001 0673 6172Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Comprehensive Rehabilitation Science, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
| | - Ida Schwartz
- grid.8532.c0000 0001 2200 7498Genetics Department/UFRGS, Medical Genetics Service/HCPA, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Anish K. Simhal
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Autism Center, Child Mind Institute, 101 E 56Th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY USA ,grid.51462.340000 0001 2171 9952Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA
| | - Martina Siracusano
- grid.6530.00000 0001 2300 0941Child Neurology and Psychiatry Unit, Systems Medicine Department, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Sotgiu
- Department of Medical, Surgical and Pharmacy, Unit of Child Neuropsychiatry, University Hospital of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Jacob Stroud
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Autism Center, Child Mind Institute, 101 E 56Th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY USA
| | - Fernando Sumiya
- grid.11899.380000 0004 1937 0722Department of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Yoshiyuki Tachibana
- grid.63906.3a0000 0004 0377 2305Division of Infant and Toddler Mental Health, Department of Psychosocial Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nicole Takahashi
- grid.134936.a0000 0001 2162 3504Thompson Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO USA
| | | | - Hiroki Tamon
- grid.63906.3a0000 0004 0377 2305Division of Infant and Toddler Mental Health, Department of Psychosocial Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Benedetto Vitiello
- grid.7605.40000 0001 2336 6580Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Section of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zuddas
- grid.7763.50000 0004 1755 3242Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience & Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy ,Child & Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, “A.Cao” Paediatric Hospital, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Bennett Leventhal
- grid.170205.10000 0004 1936 7822University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
| | - Kathleen Merikangas
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, USA
| | - Michael P. Milham
- grid.428122.f0000 0004 7592 9033Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY USA ,grid.250263.00000 0001 2189 4777Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY USA
| | - Adriana Di Martino
- Autism Center, Child Mind Institute, 101 E 56Th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY, USA.
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27
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Alvarez BD, Morales CA, Oliver BL, Cavazos C, Amodeo LR, Amodeo DA. Impairments in operant probabilistic reversal learning in BTBR T+tf/J male and female mice. Behav Brain Res 2023; 437:114111. [PMID: 36100009 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Revised: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents with two core symptoms, impairments in social communication and the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors (RRBs). RRBs are commonly linked to a lack of behavioral flexibility, having a significant negative impact on daily functioning for ASD individuals and their caregivers. Commonly utilized tests of behavioral flexibility employ a traditional deterministic reward approach where choices are either correct or incorrect throughout testing. The incorporation of an 80 %/20 % probabilistic reversal learning paradigm allows for the examination of flexible behavior in the face of variable outcomes, a more ecologically relevant approach. In this task, one specific choice is reinforced on 80 % of trials and the opposite or incorrect choice is reinforced on 20% of trials. Upon successful discrimination learning, the reward contingencies are switched so that the correct choice is now reinforced 20% of trials and the incorrect choice reinforced 80 % of trials, making it the new optimal choice. This translational task has been previously validated in ASD individuals and animal models of ASD, including the BTBR T + tf/J strain. Our lab and others have demonstrated that male BTBR T + tf/J mice have higher expression of lower order RRBs and display deficits in spatial probabilistic reversal learning tasks using a T-maze apparatus. Instead, female BTBR mice do not express the same lower order RRBs and results are mixed on whether females demonstrate similar probabilistic reversal learning deficits in a T-maze. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the validity of using operant chambers to examine BTBR mouse performance on an 80 %/20 % probabilistic reversal learning task and to also examine the sex-specific differences in reversal learning performance in both mouse strains. Results show that BTBR mice, irrespective of sex, were impaired on the reversal learning, requiring more days and trials to reach reversal criterion compared to C57BL/6J mice. These results parallel previous strain findings in the spatial dependent T-maze task in male mice. Further error analysis showed that the impaired behavioral flexibility was due to elevated regressive errors and lose-shift probabilities. BTBR mice have more difficulty maintaining new choice patterns compared to C57BL/6J mice, which supports findings utilizing a spatial T-maze task. Together, these findings further support the use of the BTBR mouse as preclinical models of ASD due to their validity as an ASD model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryan D Alvarez
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States
| | - Cheyenne A Morales
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States
| | - Brandon L Oliver
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States
| | - Cassandra Cavazos
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States
| | - Leslie R Amodeo
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States.
| | - Dionisio A Amodeo
- Department of Psychology, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA 92407, United States
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28
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Liu J, Chang H, Abrams DA, Kang JB, Chen L, Rosenberg-Lee M, Menon V. Atypical cognitive training-induced learning and brain plasticity and their relation to insistence on sameness in children with autism. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.25.525594. [PMID: 36747659 PMCID: PMC9900852 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.25.525594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often display atypical learning styles, however little is known regarding learning-related brain plasticity and its relation to clinical phenotypic features. Here, we investigate cognitive learning and neural plasticity using functional brain imaging and a novel numerical problem-solving training protocol. Children with ASD showed comparable learning relative to typically developing children but were less likely to shift from rule-based to memory-based strategy. Critically, while learning gains in typically developing children were associated with greater plasticity of neural representations in the medial temporal lobe and intraparietal sulcus, learning in children with ASD was associated with more stable neural representations. Crucially, the relation between learning and plasticity of neural representations was moderated by insistence on sameness, a core phenotypic feature of ASD. Our study uncovers atypical cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying learning in children with ASD, and informs pedagogical strategies for nurturing cognitive abilities in childhood autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Liu
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Hyesang Chang
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Daniel A. Abrams
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Julia Boram Kang
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Lang Chen
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053
| | - Miriam Rosenberg-Lee
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102
| | - Vinod Menon
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
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Takahashi Y, Murata S, Ueki M, Tomita H, Yamashita Y. Interaction between Functional Connectivity and Neural Excitability in Autism: A Novel Framework for Computational Modeling and Application to Biological Data. COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 7:14-29. [PMID: 38774640 PMCID: PMC11104370 DOI: 10.5334/cpsy.93] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Functional connectivity (FC) and neural excitability may interact to affect symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested this hypothesis with neural network simulations, and applied it with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A hierarchical recurrent neural network embodying predictive processing theory was subjected to a facial emotion recognition task. Neural network simulations examined the effects of FC and neural excitability on changes in neural representations by developmental learning, and eventually on ASD-like performance. Next, by mapping each neural network condition to subject subgroups on the basis of fMRI parameters, the association between ASD-like performance in the simulation and ASD diagnosis in the corresponding subject subgroup was examined. In the neural network simulation, the more homogeneous the neural excitability of the lower-level network, the more ASD-like the performance (reduced generalization and emotion recognition capability). In addition, in homogeneous networks, the higher the FC, the more ASD-like performance, while in heterogeneous networks, the higher the FC, the less ASD-like performance, demonstrating that FC and neural excitability interact. As an underlying mechanism, neural excitability determines the generalization capability of top-down prediction, and FC determines whether the model's information processing will be top-down prediction-dependent or bottom-up sensory-input dependent. In fMRI datasets, ASD was actually more prevalent in subject subgroups corresponding to the network condition showing ASD-like performance. The current study suggests an interaction between FC and neural excitability, and presents a novel framework for computational modeling and biological application of a developmental learning process underlying cognitive alterations in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuta Takahashi
- Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Hospital, Japan
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan
- Department of Information Medicine, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan
| | - Shingo Murata
- Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Japan
| | - Masao Ueki
- School of Information and Data Sciences, Nagasaki University, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Tomita
- Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Hospital, Japan
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan
| | - Yuichi Yamashita
- Department of Information Medicine, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan
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30
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Schmitt LM, Arzuaga AL, Dapore A, Duncan J, Patel M, Larson JR, Erickson CA, Sweeney JA, Ragozzino ME. Parallel learning and cognitive flexibility impairments between Fmr1 knockout mice and individuals with fragile X syndrome. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 16:1074682. [PMID: 36688132 PMCID: PMC9849779 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1074682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a monogenic condition that leads to intellectual disability along with behavioral and learning difficulties. Among behavioral and learning difficulties, cognitive flexibility impairments are among the most commonly reported in FXS, which significantly impacts daily living. Despite the extensive use of the Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse to understand molecular, synaptic and behavioral alterations related to FXS, there has been limited development of translational paradigms to understand cognitive flexibility that can be employed in both animal models and individuals with FXS to facilitate treatment development. Methods To begin addressing this limitation, a parallel set of studies were carried out that investigated probabilistic reversal learning along with other behavioral and cognitive tests in individuals with FXS and Fmr1 KO mice. Fifty-five adolescents and adults with FXS (67% male) and 34 age- and sex-matched typically developing controls (62% male) completed an initial probabilistic learning training task and a probabilistic reversal learning task. Results In males with FXS, both initial probabilistic learning and reversal learning deficits were found. However, in females with FXS, we only observed reversal learning deficits. Reversal learning deficits related to more severe psychiatric features in females with FXS, whereas increased sensitivity to negative feedback (lose:shift errors) unexpectedly appear to be adaptive in males with FXS. Male Fmr1 KO mice exhibited both an initial probabilistic learning and reversal learning deficit compared to that of wildtype (WT) mice. Female Fmr1 KO mice were selectively impaired on probabilistic reversal learning. In a prepotent response inhibition test, both male and female Fmr1 KO mice were impaired in learning to choose a non-preferred spatial location to receive a food reward compared to that of WT mice. Neither male nor female Fmr1 KO mice exhibited a change in anxiety compared to that of WT mice. Discussion Together, our findings demonstrate strikingly similar sex-dependent learning disturbances across individuals with FXS and Fmr1 KO mice. This suggests the promise of using analogous paradigms of cognitive flexibility across species that may speed treatment development to improve lives of individuals with FXS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M. Schmitt
- Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States,Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Anna L. Arzuaga
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Ashley Dapore
- Department of Psychiatry, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Jason Duncan
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Maya Patel
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - John R. Larson
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Craig A. Erickson
- Department of Psychiatry, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - John A. Sweeney
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Michael E. Ragozzino
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States,*Correspondence: Michael E. Ragozzino,
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Arzuaga AL, Edmison DD, Mroczek J, Larson J, Ragozzino ME. Prenatal stress and fluoxetine exposure in mice differentially affect repetitive behaviors and synaptic plasticity in adult male and female offspring. Behav Brain Res 2023; 436:114114. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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32
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Do Q, Li Y, Kane GA, McGuire JT, Scott BB. Assessing evidence accumulation and rule learning in humans with an online game. J Neurophysiol 2023; 129:131-143. [PMID: 36475830 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00124.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence accumulation, an essential component of perception and decision making, is frequently studied with psychophysical tasks involving noisy or ambiguous stimuli. In these tasks, participants typically receive verbal or written instructions that describe the strategy that should be used to guide decisions. Although convenient and effective, explicit instructions can influence learning and decision making strategies and can limit comparisons with animal models, in which behaviors are reinforced through feedback. Here, we developed an online video game and nonverbal training pipeline, inspired by pulse-based tasks for rodents, as an alternative to traditional psychophysical tasks used to study evidence accumulation. Using this game, we collected behavioral data from hundreds of participants trained with an explicit description of the decision rule or with experiential feedback. Participants trained with feedback alone learned the game rules rapidly and used strategies and displayed biases similar to those who received explicit instructions. Finally, by leveraging data across hundreds of participants, we show that perceptual judgments were well described by an accumulation process in which noise scaled nonlinearly with evidence, consistent with previous animal studies but inconsistent with diffusion models widely used to describe perceptual decisions in humans. These results challenge the conventional description of the accumulation process and suggest that online games provide a valuable platform to examine perceptual decision making and learning in humans. In addition, the feedback-based training pipeline developed for this game may be useful for evaluating perceptual decision making in human populations with difficulty following verbal instructions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Perceptual uncertainty sets critical constraints on our ability to accumulate evidence and make decisions; however, its sources remain unclear. We developed a video game, and feedback-based training pipeline, to study uncertainty during decision making. Leveraging choices from hundreds of subjects, we demonstrate that human choices are inconsistent with popular diffusion models of human decision making and instead are best fit by models in which perceptual uncertainty scales nonlinearly with the strength of sensory evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Do
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Yutong Li
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Gary A Kane
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Joseph T McGuire
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Benjamin B Scott
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
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Waite J, Beck SR, Powis L, Oliver C. The Executive Function Account of Repetitive Behavior: Evidence From Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. AMERICAN JOURNAL ON INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2023; 128:49-65. [PMID: 36548376 DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-128.1.49] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we focus on Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) to explore the associations between executive function deficits and repetitive behaviors. Thirty individuals with RTS completed direct assessments of inhibition, working memory and set-shifting. Informants completed repetitive behavior and executive function questionnaires. Repetitive questions were associated with poorer inhibition and working memory. Stereotypy was associated with poorer inhibition. Adherence to routines was associated with poorer set-shifting, but only on the parental report measure. No other associations were evident. There is evidence of an association between specific repetitive behaviors and executive functioning in RTS, suggesting executive dysfunction may underpin behavioral difference in RTS. The findings point towards specific associations that are of interest for further research across populations in which repetitive behaviors are present.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane Waite
- Jane Waite, College of Health and Life Sciences, School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Sarah R Beck
- Sarah R. Beck, Laurie Powis, and Chris Oliver, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Laurie Powis
- Sarah R. Beck, Laurie Powis, and Chris Oliver, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Chris Oliver
- Sarah R. Beck, Laurie Powis, and Chris Oliver, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
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Geddert R, Egner T. No need to choose: Independent regulation of cognitive stability and flexibility challenges the stability-flexibility trade-off. J Exp Psychol Gen 2022; 151:3009-3027. [PMID: 35617233 PMCID: PMC9670017 DOI: 10.1037/xge0001241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive behavior requires the ability to focus on a current task and protect it from distraction (cognitive stability), as well as the ability to rapidly switch to another task in light of changing circumstances (cognitive flexibility). Cognitive stability and flexibility have been conceptualized as opposite endpoints on a stability-flexibility trade-off continuum, implying an obligatory reciprocity between the two: Greater flexibility necessitates less stability, and vice versa. Surprisingly, rigorous empirical tests of this critical assumption are lacking. Here, we acquired simultaneous measurements of cognitive stability (congruency effects) and flexibility (switch costs) on the same stimuli within the same task while independently varying contextual demands on these functions with block-wise manipulations of the proportion of incongruent trials and task switches, respectively. If cognitive stability and flexibility are reciprocal, increases in flexibility in response to higher switch rates should lead to commensurate decreases in stability, and increases in stability in response to more frequent incongruent trials should result in decreased flexibility. Across three experiments, using classic cued task-switching (Experiments 1 and 3) and attentional set-shifting (Experiment 2) protocols, we found robust evidence against an obligatory stability-flexibility trade-off. Although we observed the expected contextual adaptation of stability and flexibility to changing demands, strategic adjustments in stability had little influence on flexibility, and vice versa. These results refute the long-held assumption of a stability-flexibility trade-off, documenting instead that the cognitive processes mediating these functions can be regulated independently-it is possible to be both stable and flexible at the same time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphael Geddert
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham,
NC, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University,
Durham, NC, USA
| | - Tobias Egner
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham,
NC, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University,
Durham, NC, USA
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35
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Andreou M, Konstantopoulos K, Peristeri E. Cognitive flexibility in autism: Evidence from young autistic children. Autism Res 2022; 15:2296-2309. [PMID: 36193816 PMCID: PMC10092108 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
We examined the cognitive flexibility performance of young autistic children and a group of neurotypical peers. Thirty-six autistic children (72-83 months) and 200 age-matched typically-developing children were assessed on the Children's Color Trails Test (CCTT), a semantic and a phonemic verbal fluency task. The results showed that the autistic children performed worse than their neurotypical peers in the switching component of the CCTT. In the fluency tests, the autistic group generated overall fewer word items than their neurotypical peers, however, their poorer performance was driven by specific linguistic stimuli in the fluency tasks. The findings suggest that cognitive flexibility for the autistic children was affected in the nonverbal CCTT only, while poor performance in semantic and phonemic fluency seemed to be inherent to the language properties of the verbal fluency tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Andreou
- Department of Speech and Language TherapyUniversity of PeloponneseKalamataGreece
| | | | - Eleni Peristeri
- School of EnglishAristotle University of ThessalonikiThessalonikiGreece
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36
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Pouretemad HR, Sadeghi S, Badv RS, Brand S. Differentiating Post-Digital Nannying Autism Syndrome from Autism Spectrum Disorders in Young Children: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study. J Clin Med 2022; 11:jcm11226786. [PMID: 36431264 PMCID: PMC9693544 DOI: 10.3390/jcm11226786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Excessive exposure of young children to digital devices has increased in recent years. Much research has shown that early excessive screentime is associated with autistic-like symptoms. This study aimed to differentiate children with Post-Digital Nannying Autism Syndrome (PDNAS) from children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing children (TDC), both behaviorally and cognitively. This study is comparative and cross-sectional and included three groups of children. The first group consisted of 15 young children with subthreshold autism symptoms. They had not received a formal diagnosis of ASD and had been exposed to digital devices for more than half of their waking time. The second group consisted of 15 young children with ASD, and the third group consisted of 15 young TDC. A lifestyle checklist, a modified checklist for autism in toddlers (M-CHAT), a behavioral flexibility rating scale-revised (BFRS-R), the Gilliam autism rating scale (GARS-2), and a behavior rating inventory of executive functioning-preschool version (BRIEF-P) were used to compare the three groups. The results showed that executive functions and behavioral flexibility were more impaired in children with ASD than in children with PDNAS and in TDC. Also, we found that there was no significant difference in the severity of autism symptoms between the children with ASD and the children with PDNAS. Early excessive exposure to digital devices may cause autism-like symptoms in children (PDNAS). Children with PDNAS are different from children with ASD in executive functions and behavioral flexibility. Further research is needed in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamid Reza Pouretemad
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 19839-69411, Iran
- Center of Excellence in Cognitive Neuropsychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 19839-69411, Iran
- Correspondence: (H.R.P.); (S.S.); (S.B.)
| | - Saeid Sadeghi
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 19839-69411, Iran
- Center of Excellence in Cognitive Neuropsychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 19839-69411, Iran
- Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14166-34793, Iran
- Correspondence: (H.R.P.); (S.S.); (S.B.)
| | - Reza Shervin Badv
- Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14166-34793, Iran
| | - Serge Brand
- Center of Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders (ZASS), Psychiatric Clinics (UPK), University of Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
- Division of Sport Science and Psychosocial Health, Department of Sport, Faculty of Medicine, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
- Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 67158-47141, Iran
- Substance Abuse Prevention Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 67158-47141, Iran
- Department of Psychiatric, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14166-34793, Iran
- Correspondence: (H.R.P.); (S.S.); (S.B.)
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Yun M, Kim E, Jung MW. Enhanced fear limits behavioral flexibility in Shank2-deficient mice. Mol Autism 2022; 13:40. [PMID: 36192805 PMCID: PMC9531513 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-022-00518-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background A core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is repetitive and restrictive patterns of behavior. Cognitive inflexibility has been proposed as a potential basis for these symptoms of ASD. More generally, behavioral inflexibility has been proposed to underlie repetitive and restrictive behavior in ASD. Here, we investigated whether and how behavioral flexibility is compromised in a widely used animal model of ASD.
Methods We compared the behavioral performance of Shank2-knockout mice and wild-type littermates in reversal learning employing a probabilistic classical trace conditioning paradigm. A conditioned stimulus (odor) was paired with an unconditioned appetitive (water, 6 µl) or aversive (air puff) stimulus in a probabilistic manner. We also compared air puff-induced eye closure responses of Shank2-knockout and wild-type mice. Results Male, but not female, Shank2-knockout mice showed impaired reversal learning when the expected outcomes consisted of a water reward and a strong air puff. Moreover, male, but not female, Shank2-knockout mice showed stronger anticipatory eye closure responses to the air puff compared to wild-type littermates, raising the possibility that the impairment might reflect enhanced fear. In support of this contention, male Shank2-knockout mice showed intact reversal learning when the strong air puff was replaced with a mild air puff and when the expected outcomes consisted of only rewards. Limitations We examined behavioral flexibility in one behavioral task (reversal learning in a probabilistic classical trace conditioning paradigm) using one ASD mouse model (Shank2-knockout mice). Thus, future work is needed to clarify the extent to which our findings (that enhanced fear limits behavioral flexibility in ASD) can explain the behavioral inflexibility associated with ASD. Also, we examined only the relationship between fear and behavioral flexibility, leaving open the question of whether abnormalities in processes other than fear contribute to behavioral inflexibility in ASD. Finally, the neurobiological mechanisms linking Shank2-knockout and enhanced fear remain to be elucidated. Conclusions Our results indicate that enhanced fear suppresses reversal learning in the presence of an intact capability to learn cue-outcome contingency changes in Shank2-knockout mice. Our findings suggest that behavioral flexibility might be seriously limited by abnormal emotional responses in ASD. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13229-022-00518-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miru Yun
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Korea.,Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
| | - Eunjoon Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Korea. .,Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34141, Korea.
| | - Min Whan Jung
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Korea. .,Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34141, Korea.
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Wattel LL, Walsh RJ, Krabbendam L. Theories on the Link Between Autism Spectrum Conditions and Trans Gender Modality: a Systematic Review. REVIEW JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS 2022; 11:275-295. [PMID: 38803560 PMCID: PMC11127869 DOI: 10.1007/s40489-022-00338-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
While research on the prevalence of co-occurring autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and trans gender modality (TGM) is available, less is known about the underlying mechanism of this association. Insight is needed to improve treatment of trans autistic people. This review provides an overview of theories on the ASC-TGM link and the available evidence for/against them published between January 2016 and October 2020. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus. This resulted in 36 studies, in which 15 theories were identified. Results indicate all theories lack substantial empirical support. Unlikely and promising theories were identified. The most promising theories were those on resistance to social norms and weakened sex differences. Future directions are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luna L. Wattel
- Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Reubs J Walsh
- Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Lydia Krabbendam
- Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Talesh Jafadideh A, Mohammadzadeh Asl B. Rest-fMRI based comparison study between autism spectrum disorder and typically control using graph frequency bands. Comput Biol Med 2022; 146:105643. [DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 04/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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40
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Goris J, Braem S, Van Herck S, Simoens J, Deschrijver E, Wiersema JR, Paton B, Brass M, Todd J. Reduced Primacy Bias in Autism during Early Sensory Processing. J Neurosci 2022; 42:3989-3999. [PMID: 35361705 PMCID: PMC9097775 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3088-20.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent theories of autism propose that a core deficit in autism would be a less context-sensitive weighting of prediction errors. There is also first support for this hypothesis on an early sensory level. However, an open question is whether this decreased context sensitivity is caused by faster updating of one's model of the world (i.e., higher weighting of new information), proposed by predictive coding theories, or slower model updating. Here, we differentiated between these two hypotheses by investigating how first impressions shape the mismatch negativity (MMN), reflecting early sensory prediction error processing. An autism and matched control group of human adults (both n = 27, 8 female) were compared on the multi-timescale MMN paradigm, in which tones were presented that were either standard (frequently occurring) or deviant (rare), and these roles reversed every block. A well-replicated observation is that the initial model (i.e., the standard and deviant sound in the first block) influences MMN amplitudes in later blocks. If autism is characterized by faster model updating, and thus a smaller primacy bias, we hypothesized (and demonstrate using a simple reinforcement learning model) that their MMN amplitudes should be less influenced by the initial context. In line with this hypothesis, we found that MMN responses in the autism group did not differ between the initial deviant and initial standard sounds as they did in the control group. These findings are consistent with the idea that autism is characterized by faster model updating during early sensory processing, as proposed by predictive coding accounts of autism.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent theories of autism propose that a core deficit in autism is that they are faster to update their models of the world based on new sensory information. Here, we tested this hypothesis by investigating how first impressions shape brain responses during early sensory processing, and hypothesized that individuals with autism would be less influenced by these first impressions. In line with earlier studies, our results show that early sensory processing was influenced by first impressions in a control group. However, this was not the case in an autism group. This suggests that individuals with autism are faster to abandon their initial model, and is consistent with the proposal that they are faster to update their models of the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Goris
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Senne Braem
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Shauni Van Herck
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium
| | - Jonas Simoens
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Eliane Deschrijver
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2033, Australia
| | - Jan R Wiersema
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Bryan Paton
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Marcel Brass
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10117, Germany
| | - Juanita Todd
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
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Koh W, Park M, Chun YE, Lee J, Shim HS, Park MG, Kim S, Sa M, Joo J, Kang H, Oh SJ, Woo J, Chun H, Lee SE, Hong J, Feng J, Li Y, Ryu H, Cho J, Lee CJ. Astrocytes Render Memory Flexible by Releasing D-Serine and Regulating NMDA Receptor Tone in the Hippocampus. Biol Psychiatry 2022; 91:740-752. [PMID: 34952697 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND NMDA receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction has been implicated in several psychiatric disorders with impairment of cognitive flexibility. However, the molecular mechanism of how NMDAR hypofunction with decreased NMDAR tone causes the impairment of cognitive flexibility has been minimally understood. Furthermore, it has been unclear whether hippocampal astrocytes regulate NMDAR tone and cognitive flexibility. METHODS We employed cell type-specific genetic manipulations, ex vivo electrophysiological recordings, sniffer patch recordings, cutting-edge biosensor for norepinephrine, and behavioral assays to investigate whether astrocytes can regulate NMDAR tone by releasing D-serine and glutamate. Subsequently, we further investigated the role of NMDAR tone in heterosynaptic long-term depression, metaplasticity, and cognitive flexibility. RESULTS We found that hippocampal astrocytes regulate NMDAR tone via BEST1-mediated corelease of D-serine and glutamate. Best1 knockout mice exhibited reduced NMDAR tone and impairments of homosynaptic and α1 adrenergic receptor-dependent heterosynaptic long-term depression, which leads to defects in metaplasticity and cognitive flexibility. These impairments in Best1 knockout mice can be rescued by hippocampal astrocyte-specific BEST1 expression or enhanced NMDAR tone through D-serine supplement. D-serine injection in Best1 knockout mice during initial learning rescues subsequent reversal learning. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that NMDAR tone during initial learning is important for subsequent learning, and hippocampal NMDAR tone regulated by astrocytic BEST1 is critical for heterosynaptic long-term depression, metaplasticity, and cognitive flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wuhyun Koh
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; Department of Neuroscience, Division of BioMedical Science & Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Mijeong Park
- Department of Neuroscience, Division of BioMedical Science & Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ye Eun Chun
- Department of Neuroscience, Division of BioMedical Science & Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jaekwang Lee
- Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hyun Soo Shim
- Center for Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Mingu Gordon Park
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Sunpil Kim
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Moonsun Sa
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jinhyeong Joo
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; IBS School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Hyunji Kang
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; IBS School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Soo-Jin Oh
- Convergence Research Center for Diagnosis, Treatment and Care System of Dementia, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Junsung Woo
- Department of Neuroscience, Division of BioMedical Science & Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Heejung Chun
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea; Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Seung Eun Lee
- Virus Facility, Research Animal Resource Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jinpyo Hong
- Center for Functional Connectomics, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jiesi Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yulong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hoon Ryu
- Center for Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jeiwon Cho
- Brain and Cognitive Science, Scranton College, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - C Justin Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Division of BioMedical Science & Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; IBS School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.
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42
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Nakamura JP, Schroeder A, Gibbons A, Sundram S, Hill RA. Timing of maternal immune activation and sex influence schizophrenia-relevant cognitive constructs and neuregulin and GABAergic pathways. Brain Behav Immun 2022; 100:70-82. [PMID: 34808289 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy is an established environmental risk factor for schizophrenia. Timing of immune activation exposure as well as sex of the exposed offspring are critical factors in defining the effects of MIA. However, the specificity of MIA on the component structure of schizophrenia, especially cognition, has been difficult to assess due to a lack of translational validity of maze-like testing paradigms. We aimed to assess cognitive domains relevant to schizophrenia using highly translational touchscreen-based tasks in male and female mice exposed to the viral mimetic, poly(I:C) (5 mg/k, i.p.), during early (gestational day (GD) 9-11) and late (GD13-15) gestational time points. Gene expression of schizophrenia candidate pathways were assessed in fetal brain immediately following poly(I:C) exposure and in adulthood to identify its influence on neurodevelopmental processes. Sex and window specific alterations in cognitive performance were found with the early window of MIA exposure causing female-specific disruptions to working memory and reduced perseverative behaviour, while late MIA exposure caused male-specific changes to working memory and deficits in reversal learning. GABAergic specification marker, Nkx2.1 gene expression was reduced in fetal brains and reelin expression was reduced in adult hippocampus of both early and late poly(I:C) exposed mice. Neuregulin and EGF signalling were initially upregulated in the fetal brain, but were reduced in the adult hippocampus, with male mice exposed in the late window showing reduced Nrg3 expression. Serine racemase was reduced in both fetal and adult brain, but again, adult reductions were specific to male mice exposed at the late time point. Overall, we show that cognitive constructs relevant to schizophrenia are altered by in utero exposure to maternal immune activation, but are highly dependent on the timing of infection and the sex of the offspring. Glutamatergic and epidermal growth factor pathways were similarly altered by MIA in a timing and sex dependent manner, while MIA-induced GABAergic deficits were independent of timing or sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- J P Nakamura
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
| | - A Schroeder
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
| | - A Gibbons
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
| | - S Sundram
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia; Mental Health Program, Monash Health, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
| | - R A Hill
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia.
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43
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Cheng X, Li Y, Cui X, Cheng H, Li C, Fu L, Jiang J, Hu Z, Ke X. Atypical Neural Responses of Cognitive Flexibility in Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Neurosci 2022; 15:747273. [PMID: 34975368 PMCID: PMC8719598 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.747273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Impaired cognitive flexibility has been repeatedly demonstrated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is strong evidence for genetic involvement in ASD. First-degree relatives of individuals with ASD may show mild deficits in cognitive inflexibility. The present study investigated cognitive flexibility and its neuroelectrophysiological mechanisms in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD to assess its potential familiality. Forty-five biological parents of individuals/children with ASD (pASD) and thirty-one biological parents of typically developing individuals/children (pTD), matched by gender, age, and IQ, were enrolled. The broad autism phenotype questionnaire (BAPQ) and cognitive flexibility inventory (CFI) were used to quantitatively assess autistic traits and cognitive flexibility in daily life, respectively. The task-switching paradigm was used to evaluate the behavioral flexibility in a structured assessment situation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) induced by this paradigm were also collected. Results showed that compared with the pTD group, the pASD group had lower CFI scores (t = −2.756, p < 0.01), while both groups showed an equivalent “switch cost” in the task-switching task (p > 0.05). Compared with the pTD group, the pASD group induced greater N2 amplitude at F3, F4, Fz, and C4 (F = 3.223, p < 0.05), while P3 amplitude and latency did not differ between the two groups. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between the CFI total scores and BAPQ total scores in the pASD group (r = −0.734, p < 0.01). After controlling for age and IQ, the N2 amplitude in the frontal lobe of pASD was negatively correlated with the CFI total scores under the repetition sequence (r = −0.304, p = 0.053). These results indicated that pASD had deficit in cognitive flexibility at the self-reported and neurological levels. The cognitive flexibility difficulties of parents of children with ASD were related to autistic traits. These findings support that cognitive flexibility is most likely a neurocognitive endophenotype of ASD, which is worthy of further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Cheng
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.,Department of Child Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, China
| | - Yu Li
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiwen Cui
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hong Cheng
- Physical Diagnostic Department, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chunyan Li
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Linyan Fu
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Jiying Jiang
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhenyu Hu
- Department of Child Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, China
| | - Xiaoyan Ke
- The Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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Peristeri E, Vogelzang M, Tsimpli IM. Bilingualism Effects on the Cognitive Flexibility of Autistic Children: Evidence From Verbal Dual-Task Paradigms. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2021; 2:558-585. [PMID: 37214625 PMCID: PMC10198706 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The deficit in cognitive flexibility (i.e., the ability to adapt cognitive behavior to changing contexts) is one of the most prominent characteristics of autistic individuals. Inflexibility may manifest in restricted interests and increased susceptibility to the effects of misinformation either through inefficient inhibition of non-target information or deficient recall of correct information. Bilingualism has been shown to enhance executive functions in both typically developing children and autistic children; yet, the effect of bilingualism on cognitive flexibility in autism remains underexplored. In this study, we used verbal dual-tasks to compare cognitive flexibility across 50 monolingual autistic and 50 bilingual autistic children, and 50 monolingual and 50 bilingual typically developing children. The children were also administered language ability tests and a nonverbal global-local cognitive flexibility task, in order to investigate whether performance in the dual-tasks would be modulated by the children's language and executive function skills. The bilingual autistic children outperformed their monolingual autistic peers in the dual-tasks. The strength of the bilingualism effect, however, was modulated by the type of language processing that interfered with the target information in each dual-task, which suggests that the bilingual autistic children calibrated their processing resources and efficiently adapted them to the changing demands of the dual-task only to the extent that the task did not exceed their language abilities. Bilingual autistic children relied on their executive functions rather than on their language abilities while performing in the dual-tasks. The overall results show that bilingualism compensates for the reduced cognitive flexibility in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleni Peristeri
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Larissa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece
| | - Margreet Vogelzang
- Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ianthi Maria Tsimpli
- Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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45
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Shogren KA, Mosconi MW, Raley SK, Dean EE, Edwards B, Wallisch A, Boyd B, Kiblen JC. Advancing the Personalization of Assessment and Intervention in Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults by Targeting Self-Determination and Executive Processes. AUTISM IN ADULTHOOD 2021; 3:289-299. [PMID: 36601638 PMCID: PMC8992922 DOI: 10.1089/aut.2021.0010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
As autistic adolescents and young adults navigate the transition to adulthood, there is a need to partner with them to identify strengths and needed supports to enable goal-directed actions. This article conceptually integrates research on self-determination, defined by Causal Agency Theory, and executive processes in autism to provide direction for future research and practice. We describe how integrating research on self-determination and executive processes could enable autistic adolescents and young adults to be engaged in the process of assessing executive processes and self-determination. We discuss how this can better inform personalization of supports for self-determination interventions by focusing on support needs related to executive processes, including inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, from a strengths-based perspective. We discuss how this can enable self-determination interventions that promote outcomes aligned with the values of the autistic community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karrie A. Shogren
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Matthew W. Mosconi
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Sheida K. Raley
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Evan E. Dean
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Ben Edwards
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Anna Wallisch
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Brian Boyd
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Jessie C. Kiblen
- Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
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46
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A loss-of-function variant in SUV39H2 identified in autism-spectrum disorder causes altered H3K9 trimethylation and dysregulation of protocadherin β-cluster genes in the developing brain. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26:7550-7559. [PMID: 34262135 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01199-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Recent evidence has documented the potential roles of histone-modifying enzymes in autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Aberrant histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) dimethylation resulting from genetic variants in histone methyltransferases is known for neurodevelopmental and behavioral anomalies. However, a systematic examination of H3K9 methylation dynamics in ASD is lacking. Here we resequenced nine genes for histone methyltransferases and demethylases involved in H3K9 methylation in individuals with ASD and healthy controls using targeted next-generation sequencing. We identified a novel rare variant (A211S) in the SUV39H2, which was predicted to be deleterious. The variant showed strongly reduced histone methyltransferase activity in vitro. In silico analysis showed that the variant destabilizes the hydrophobic core and allosterically affects the enzyme activity. The Suv39h2-KO mice displayed hyperactivity and reduced behavioral flexibility in learning the tasks that required complex behavioral adaptation, which is relevant for ASD. The Suv39h2 deficit evoked an elevated expression of a subset of protocadherin β (Pcdhb) cluster genes in the embryonic brain, which is attributable to the loss of H3K9 trimethylation (me3) at the gene promoters. Reduced H3K9me3 persisted in the cerebellum of Suv39h2-deficient mice to an adult stage. Congruently, reduced expression of SUV39H1 and SUV39H2 in the postmortem brain samples of ASD individuals was observed, underscoring the role of H3K9me3 deficiency in ASD etiology. The present study provides direct evidence for the role of SUV39H2 in ASD and suggests a molecular cascade of SUV39H2 dysfunction leading to H3K9me3 deficiency followed by an untimely, elevated expression of Pcdhb cluster genes during early neurodevelopment.
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47
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Athnaiel O, Job GA, Ocampo R, Teneqexhi P, Messer WS, Ragozzino ME. Effects of the Partial M1 Muscarinic Cholinergic Receptor Agonist CDD-0102A on Stereotyped Motor Behaviors and Reversal Learning in the BTBR Mouse Model of Autism. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2021; 25:64-74. [PMID: 34791301 PMCID: PMC8756088 DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyab079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a set of neurodevelopmental disorders marked by a lack of social interaction, restrictive interests, and repetitive behaviors. There is a paucity of pharmacological treatments to reduce core ASD symptoms. Various lines of evidence indicate that reduced brain muscarinic cholinergic receptor activity may contribute to an ASD phenotype. METHODS The present experiments examined whether the partial M1 muscarinic receptor agonist, 5-(3-ethyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-yl)-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine hydrochloride (CDD-0102A), alleviates behavioral flexibility deficits and/or stereotyped motor behaviors in the BTBR mouse model of autism. Behavioral flexibility was tested using a reversal learning test. Stereotyped motor behaviors were measured by eliciting digging behavior after removal of nesting material in a home cage and by measuring repetitive grooming. RESULTS CDD-0102A (0.2 and 0.6 mg/kg but not 1.2 mg/kg) injected prior to reversal learning attenuated a deficit in BTBR mice but did not affect performance in B6 mice. Acute CDD-0102A treatment (1.2 and 3 mg/kg) reduced self-grooming in BTBR mice and reduced digging behavior in B6 and BTBR mice. The M1 muscarinic receptor antagonist VU0255035 (3 mg/kg) blocked the effect of CDD-0102A on grooming behavior. Chronic treatment with CDD-0102A (1.2 mg/kg) attenuated self-grooming and digging behavior in BTBR mice. Direct CDD-0102A infusions (1 µg) into the dorsal striatum reduced elevated digging behavior in BTBR mice. In contrast, CDD-0102A injections in the frontal cortex were not effective. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that treatment with a partial M1 muscarinic receptor agonist may reduce repetitive behaviors and restricted interests in autism in part by stimulating striatal M1 muscarinic receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Onella Athnaiel
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA,Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Greeshma A Job
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Roberto Ocampo
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Pamela Teneqexhi
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA,Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - William S Messer
- Departments of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA
| | - Michael E Ragozzino
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA,Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA,Correspondence: Dr Michael E. Ragozzino, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA ()
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48
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Zhao Z, Zhang X, Tang H, Hu X, Qu X, Lu J, Peng Q. Restricted Kinematics in Children With Autism in the Execution of Complex Oscillatory Arm Movements. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:708969. [PMID: 34803630 PMCID: PMC8597710 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.708969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Restricted and repetitive behavior is a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characterized by features of restrictedness, repetition, rigidity, and invariance. Few studies have investigated how restrictedness is manifested in motor behavior. This study aimed to address this question by instructing participants to perform the utmost complex movement. Twenty children with ASD and 23 children with typical development (TD) performed one-dimensional, left-right arm oscillations by demonstrating varying amplitudes and frequencies. The entropy of amplitude and velocity was calculated as an index of kinematic complexity. Results showed that the velocity entropy, but not the amplitude entropy, was significantly lower in ASD than in TD (p < 0.01), suggesting restricted kinematics. Further analysis demonstrated that a significantly higher proportion of the velocity values was allocated at a low-speed level in the children with ASD (p < 0.01). A qualitative comparison of the complex movement with movement at preferred frequency suggested that the children with ASD might be less likely to shift away from the preferred movement. However, our study can be improved in terms of recruiting a larger sample of participants, measuring the level of motivation, and collecting both complex and preferred movements of the same participant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhong Zhao
- Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xiaobin Zhang
- Shenzhen Guangming District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haiming Tang
- Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xinyao Hu
- Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xingda Qu
- Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jianping Lu
- Department of Child Psychiatry of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen Mental Health Center, Shenzhen, China
| | - Qiongling Peng
- Developmental Behavioral Pediatric Department, Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China
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Reduced hippocampal inhibition and enhanced autism-epilepsy comorbidity in mice lacking neuropilin 2. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:537. [PMID: 34663783 PMCID: PMC8523694 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01655-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuropilin receptors and their secreted semaphorin ligands play key roles in brain circuit development by regulating numerous crucial neuronal processes, including the maturation of synapses and migration of GABAergic interneurons. Consistent with its developmental roles, the neuropilin 2 (Nrp2) locus contains polymorphisms in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nrp2-deficient mice show autism-like behavioral deficits and propensity to develop seizures. In order to determine the pathophysiology in Nrp2 deficiency, we examined the hippocampal numbers of interneuron subtypes and inhibitory regulation of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in mice lacking one or both copies of Nrp2. Immunostaining for interneuron subtypes revealed that Nrp2-/- mice have a reduced number of parvalbumin, somatostatin, and neuropeptide Y cells, mainly in CA1. Whole-cell recordings identified reduced firing and hyperpolarized shift in resting membrane potential in CA1 pyramidal neurons from Nrp2+/- and Nrp2-/- mice compared to age-matched wild-type controls indicating decrease in intrinsic excitability. Simultaneously, the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) are reduced in Nrp2-deficient mice. A convulsive dose of kainic acid evoked electrographic and behavioral seizures with significantly shorter latency, longer duration, and higher severity in Nrp2-/- compared to Nrp2+/+ animals. Finally, Nrp2+/- and Nrp2-/- but not Nrp2+/+, mice have impaired cognitive flexibility demonstrated by reward-based reversal learning, a task associated with hippocampal circuit function. Together these data demonstrate a broad reduction in interneuron subtypes and compromised inhibition in CA1 of Nrp2-/- mice, which could contribute to the heightened seizure susceptibility and behavioral deficits consistent with an ASD/epilepsy phenotype.
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50
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Comparan-Meza M, Vargas de la Cruz I, Jauregui-Huerta F, Gonzalez-Castañeda RE, Gonzalez-Perez O, Galvez-Contreras AY. Biopsychological correlates of repetitive and restricted behaviors in autism spectrum disorders. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e2341. [PMID: 34472728 PMCID: PMC8553330 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is considered a neurodevelopmental condition that is characterized by alterations in social interaction and communication, as well as patterns of restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRBs). RRBs are defined as broad behaviors that comprise stereotypies, insistence on sameness, and attachment to objects or routines. RRBs can be divided into lower-level behaviors (motor, sensory, and object-manipulation behaviors) and higher-level behaviors (restrictive interests, insistence on sameness, and repetitive language). According to the DSM-5, the grade of severity in ASD partially depends on the frequency of RRBs and their consequences for disrupting the life of patients, affecting their adaptive skills, and increasing the need for parental support. METHODS We conducted a systematic review to examine the biopsychological correlates of the symptomatic domains of RRBs according to the type of RRBs (lower- or higher-level). We searched for articles from the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) using the terms: autism spectrum disorders, ASD, and autism-related to executive functions, inhibitory control, inflexibility, cognitive flexibility, hyper or hypo connectivity, and behavioral approaches. For describing the pathophysiological mechanism of ASD, we also included animal models and followed PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS One hundred and thirty-one articles were analyzed to explain the etiology, continuance, and clinical evolution of these behaviors observed in ASD patients throughout life. CONCLUSIONS Biopsychological correlates involved in the origin of RRBs include alterations in a) neurotransmission system, b) brain volume, c) inadequate levels of growth factors, d) hypo- or hyper-neural connectivity, e) impairments in behavioral inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and monitoring and f) non-stimulating environments. Understanding these lower- and higher-level of RRBs can help professionals to improve or design novel therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Comparan-Meza
- Maestría en Neuropsicología, Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico
| | - Ivette Vargas de la Cruz
- Unidad de Atención en Neurociencias, Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico
| | - Fernando Jauregui-Huerta
- Laboratorio de Microscopia de Alta Resolución, Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico
| | - Rocio E Gonzalez-Castañeda
- Laboratorio de Microscopia de Alta Resolución, Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico
| | - Oscar Gonzalez-Perez
- Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Colima, Colima, COL, Mexico
| | - Alma Y Galvez-Contreras
- Unidad de Atención en Neurociencias, Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico
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