Developmental social communication deficits in the Shank3 rat model of phelan-mcdermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorder.

ABSTRACT: Mutations in the SHANK3 gene have been discovered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the intellectual disability, Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. This study leveraged a new rat model of Shank3 deficiency to assess complex behavioral phenomena, unique to rats, which display a richer social behavior repertoire than mice. Uniquely detectable emissions of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in rats serve as situation-dependent affective signals and accomplish important communicative functions. We report, for the first time, a call and response acoustic playback assay of bidirectional social communication in juvenile Shank3 rats. Interestingly, we found that Shank3-deficient null males did not demonstrate the enhanced social approach behavior typically exhibited following playback of pro-social USV. C

SUBMITTER: Berg EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5903935 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature