Preliminary Results Regarding Sleep in a Zebrafish Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Madalina Andreea Robea,Stefan Strungaru,Alin Ciobica,Mircea Nicoara,Radu Lefter,Gabriel Plavan,Alexandrina-Stefania Curpan

doi:10.3390/brainsci11050556

Madalina Andreea Robea, Stefan Strungaru + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050556

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Journal: Brain sciences	Publication Date: Apr 28, 2021
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romanian Academy

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most salient developmental neurological diseases and remarkable similarities have been found between humans and model animals of ASD. A common method of inducing ASD in zebrafish is by administrating valproic acid (VPA), which is an antiepileptic drug that is strongly linked with developmental defects in children. In the present study we replicated and extended the findings of VPA on social behavior in zebrafish by adding several sleep observations. Juvenile zebrafish manifested hyperactivity and an increase in ASD-like social behaviors but, interestingly, only exhibited minimal alterations in sleep. Our study confirmed that VPA can generate specific ASD symptoms, indicating that the zebrafish is an alternative model in this field of research.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease which has an early onset [1,2]
A common method of inducing ASD in zebrafish is by administrating valproic acid (VPA), which is an antiepileptic drug that is strongly linked with developmental defects in children
Our study confirmed that VPA can generate specific ASD symptoms, indicating that the zebrafish is an alternative model in this field of research

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease which has an early onset [1,2]. ASD is represented by the appearance of multiple impairments in the social domain accompanied by repetitive behaviors and restricted interests [2,3,4,5]. Apart from these symptoms, additional criteria such as anxiety, irritability, aggression, seizures, mood changes, cognitive deficits and sleep disturbances are used to diagnose autism [6]. Post-mortem studies revealed a reduction in the number of Purkinje cells and neuronal cell size in the limbic system and cerebellum [12,13,14]. Abnormalities in GABA expression were found in several brain areas in autistic people [16,17,18]

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