title: Decreased aggression and increased repetitive behavior in Pten haploinsufficient mice.
abstract: Aggression is an aspect of social behavior that can be elevated in some individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a concern for peers and caregivers. Mutations in Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), one of several ASD risk factors encoding negative regulators of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway, have been reported in individuals with ASD and comorbid macrocephaly. We previously showed that a mouse model of Pten germline haploinsufficiency (Pten(+/-) ) has selective deficits, primarily in social behavior, along with broad overgrowth of the brain. Here, we further examine the social behavior of Pten(+/-) male mice in the resident-intruder test of aggression, using a comprehensive behavioral analysis to obtain an overall picture of the agonistic, non-agonistic and non-social behavior patterns of Pten(+/-) mice during a free interaction with a novel conspecific. Pten(+/-) male mice were involved in less aggression than their wild-type littermates. Pten(+/-) mice also performed less social investigation, including anogenital investigation and approaching and/or attending to the intruder, which is consistent with our previous finding of decreased sociability in the social approach test. In contrast to these decreases in social behaviors, Pten(+/-) mice showed increased digging. In summary, we report decreased aggression and increased repetitive behavior in Pten(+/-) mice, thus extending our characterization of this model of an ASD risk factor that features brain overgrowth and social deficits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Clipperton-Allen
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Page
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005838:Genotype; D057895:Haploinsufficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000235:genetics*; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; C487757:Pten protein, mouse
keywords: Aggression; Pten; autism; repetitive behavior; resident-intruder