Semi-natural housing rescues social behavior and reduces repetitive exploratory behavior of BTBR autistic-like mice.

ABSTRACT: Environmental enrichment confers numerous benefits when implemented in murine models and can reduce behavioral symptomatology in models of disease, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous work did not examine the impact of early-life environmental enrichment on each core feature of ASD. We thus implemented a social and physical enrichment at birth, modeling a semi-natural housing, and examined its impact on communicative, social, sensory, and repetitive behaviors using BTBR (autistic-like) and C57BL/6 J (B6, wildtype) mice, comparing them to standard housing conditions. We found that environmental enrichment alleviated the social deficit of juvenile BTBR mice and reduced their repetitive exploratory behavior but did not affect their rough versus smooth texture preference

SUBMITTER: Binder MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10533821 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature