Combinatorial Targeting of Distributed Forebrain Networks Reverses Noise Hypersensitivity in a Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Neuron
Authors
Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with noise hypersensitivity, the suboptimal extraction of meaningful signals in noisy environments. Because sensory filtering can involve distinct automatic and executive circuit mechanisms, however, developing circuit-specific therapeutic strategies for ASD noise hypersensitivity can be challenging. Here, we find that both of these processes are individually perturbed in one monogenic form of ASD, Ptchd1 deletion. Although Ptchd1 is preferentially expressed in the thalamic reticular nucleus during development, pharmacological rescue of thalamic perturbations in knockout (KO) mice only normalized automatic sensory filtering. By discovering a separate prefrontal perturbation in these animals and adopting a combinatorial pharmacological approach that also rescued its associated goal-directed noise filtering deficit, we achieved full normalization of noise hypersensitivity in this model. Overall, our work highlights the importance of identifying large-scale functional circuit architectures and utilizing them as access points for behavioral disease correction.

Year of Publication
2019
Journal
Neuron
Volume
104
Issue
3
Pages
488-500.e11
Date Published
2019 Nov 06
ISSN
1097-4199
DOI
10.1016/j.neuron.2019.09.040
PubMed ID
31648899
Links