Pten haploinsufficiency causes desynchronized growth of brain areas involved in sensory processing.

ABSTRACT: How changes in brain scaling relate to altered behavior is an important question in neurodevelopmental disorder research. Mice with germline Pten haploinsufficiency (Pten ^+/-) closely mirror the abnormal brain scaling and behavioral deficits seen in humans with macrocephaly/autism syndrome, which is caused by PTEN mutations. We explored whether deviation from normal patterns of growth can predict behavioral abnormalities. Brain regions associated with sensory processing (e.g., pons and inferior colliculus) had the biggest deviations from expected volume. While Pten ^+/- mice showed little or no abnormal behavior on most assays, both sexes showed sensory deficits, including impaired sensorimotor gating and hyporeactivity to high-intensity sti

SUBMITTER: Clipperton-Allen AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8844819 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature