Valproic acid affects neurogenesis during early optic tectum development in zebrafish

Three Decades of Valproate: A Current Model for Studying Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with increased prevalence and incidence in recent decades. Its etiology remains largely unclear, but it seems to involve a strong genetic component and environmental factors that, in turn, induce epigenetic changes during embryonic and postnatal brain development. In recent decades, clinical studies have shown that inutero exposure to valproic acid (VPA), a commonly prescribed antiepileptic drug, is an environmental factor associated with an increased risk of ASD. Subsequently, prenatal VPA exposure in rodents has been established as a reliable translational model to study the pathophysiology of ASD, which has helped demonstrate neurobiological changes in rodents, non-human primates, and brain organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. This evidence supports the notion that prenatal VPA exposure is a valid and current model to replicate an idiopathic ASD-like disorder in experimental animals. This review summarizes and describes the current features reported with this animal model of autism and the main neurobiological findings and correlates that help elucidate the pathophysiology of ASD. Finally, we discuss the general framework of the VPA model in comparison to other environmental and genetic ASD models.

First person – Bailey Calder

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Bailey Calder is first author on ‘ Valproic acid affects neurogenesis during early optic tectum development in zebrafish’, published in BiO. Bailey is a PhD student in the lab of Dr Arminda Suli at Brigham Young University (BYU), Provo, UT, USA, investigating the development of brain regions that integrate sensory inputs.