Abnormal Emotional Learning in a Rat Model of Autism Exposed to Valproic Acid in Utero

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBanerjee, Anweshaen_US
dc.contributor.authorEngineer, Crystal T.en_US
dc.contributor.authorSauls, Bethany L.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMorales, Anna A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorPloski, Jonathan E.\\Kilgard, Michael P.en_US
dc.contributor.utdAuthorKilgard, Michael P.
dc.date.accessioned2015-01-20T17:54:03Z
dc.date.available2015-01-20T17:54:03Z
dc.date.created2014-11-12
dc.descriptionThe Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://www.frontiersin.org/journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00387/abstracten_US
dc.description.abstractAutism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by repetitive behavior and impaired social communication and interactions. Apart from these core symptoms, a significant number of ASD individuals display higher levels of anxiety and some ASD individuals exhibit impaired emotional learning. We therefore sought to further examine anxiety and emotional learning in an environmentally induced animal model of ASD that utilizes the administration of the known teratogen, valproic acid (VPA) during gestation. Specifically we exposed dams to one of two different doses of VPA (500 and 600 mg/kg) or vehicle on day 12.5 of gestation and examined the resultant progeny. Our data indicate that animals exposed to VPA in utero exhibit enhanced anxiety in the open field test and normal object recognition memory compared to control animals. Animals exposed to 500 mg/kg of VPA displayed normal acquisition of auditory fear conditioning, and exhibited reduced extinction of fear memory and normal litter survival rates as compared to control animals. We observed that animals exposed to 600 mg/kg of VPA exhibited a significant reduction in the acquisition of fear conditioning, a significant reduction in social interaction and a significant reduction in litter survival rates as compared to control animals. VPA (600 mg/kg) exposed animals exhibited similar shock sensitivity and hearing as compared to control animals indicating the fear conditioning deficit observed in these animals was not likely due to sensory deficits, but rather due to deficits in learning or memory retrieval. In conclusion, considering that progeny from dams exposed to rather similar doses of VPA exhibit striking differences in emotional learning, the VPA model may serve as a useful tool to explore the molecular and cellular mechanisms that contribute to not only ASD, but also emotional learning.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipUS National Institutes of Health grants (RMH096202A, RMH100650A and, R01DC010433)en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationBanerjee, Anwesha, Crystal T. Engineer, Bethany L. Sauls, Anna A. Morales, et al. 2014. "Abnormal emotional learning in a rat model of autism exposed to valproic acid in utero." Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 8(387): 1-13.
dc.identifier.issn1662-5153en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10735.1/4272
dc.identifier.volume8en_US
dc.publisherFrontiers Research Foundationen_US
dc.relation.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00387en_US
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0 (Attribution)en_US
dc.rights©2014 The Authorsen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.source.journalFrontiers in Behavioral Neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectAutismen_US
dc.subjectLearningen_US
dc.subjectMemoryen_US
dc.subjectValproic aciden_US
dc.subjectAmygdalaen_US
dc.subjectEmotionsen_US
dc.subjectClassical conditioningen_US
dc.titleAbnormal Emotional Learning in a Rat Model of Autism Exposed to Valproic Acid in Uteroen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dc.type.genrearticleen_US

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
BBS-FR-JEPloski-271628.49.pdf
Size:
4.65 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Article
Download

Collections

Ploski, Jonathan E.
BBS Staff and Student Research
Kilgard, Michael P.