Abstract
To uncover the circuit-level alterations that underlie atypical sensory processing associated with autism, we adopted a symptom-to-circuit approach in the Fmr1-/- mouse model of Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Using a go/no-go task and in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging, we find that impaired visual discrimination in Fmr1-/- mice correlates with marked deficits in orientation tuning of principal neurons, and a decrease in the activity of parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in primary visual cortex (V1). Restoring visually evoked activity in PV cells in Fmr1-/- mice with a chemogenetic (DREADD) strategy was sufficient to rescue their behavioral performance. Strikingly, human subjects with FXS exhibit similar impairments in visual discrimination as Fmr1-/- mice. These results suggest that manipulating inhibition may help sensory processing in FXS.
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