title: Autism Spectrum Disorders: Translating human deficits into mouse behavior.
abstract: Autism Spectrum Disorders are a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders, with rising incidence but little effective therapeutic intervention available. Currently two main clinical features are described to diagnose ASDs: impaired social interaction and communication, and repetitive behaviors. Much work has focused on understanding underlying causes of ASD by generating animal models of the disease, in the hope of discovering signaling pathways and cellular targets for drug intervention. Here we review how ASD behavioral phenotypes can be modeled in the mouse, the most common animal model currently in use in this field, and discuss examples of genetic mouse models of ASD with behavioral features that recapitulate various symptoms of ASD.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pasciuto
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Borrie
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kanellopoulos
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cappuyns
authors.affiliation: University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.affiliation: University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pacini
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Center for Human Genetics, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, Leuven, Belgium; University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: claudia.bagni@uniroma2.it.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bagni
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders; Cognitive impairment; Human behavior; Hyperactivity; Mouse behavior; Repetitive behaviors; Social interaction