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Environmental Enrichment Rescues Social Behavioral Deficits and Synaptic Abnormalities in Pten Haploinsufficient Mice
| Content Provider | MDPI |
|---|---|
| Author | Clipperton-Allen, Amy E. Zhang, Angela Cohen, Ori S. Page, Damon Theron |
| Copyright Year | 2021 |
| Description | Pten germline haploinsufficient $(Pten^{+/−}$) mice, which model macrocephaly/autism syndrome, show social and repetitive behavior deficits, early brain overgrowth, and cortical–subcortical hyperconnectivity. Previous work indicated that altered neuronal connectivity may be a substrate for behavioral deficits. We hypothesized that exposing $Pten^{+/−}$ mice to environmental enrichment after brain overgrowth has occurred may facilitate adaptation to abnormal “hard-wired” connectivity through enhancing synaptic plasticity. Thus, we reared $Pten^{+/−}$ mice and their wild-type littermates from weaning under either standard (4–5 mice per standard-sized cage, containing only bedding and nestlet) or enriched (9–10 mice per large-sized cage, containing objects for exploration and a running wheel, plus bedding and nestlet) conditions. Adult mice were tested on social and non-social assays in which $Pten^{+/−}$ mice display deficits. Environmental enrichment rescued sex-specific deficits in social behavior in $Pten^{+/−}$ mice and partially rescued increased repetitive behavior in $Pten^{+/−}$ males. We found that $Pten^{+/−}$ mice show increased excitatory and decreased inhibitory pre-synaptic proteins; this phenotype was also rescued by environmental enrichment. Together, our results indicate that environmental enrichment can rescue social behavioral deficits in $Pten^{+/−}$ mice, possibly through normalizing the excitatory synaptic protein abundance. |
| Starting Page | 1366 |
| e-ISSN | 20734425 |
| DOI | 10.3390/genes12091366 |
| Journal | Genes |
| Issue Number | 9 |
| Volume Number | 12 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Publisher Date | 2021-08-30 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Genes Neurosciences Environmental Enrichment Synaptic Plasticity Pten Autism Neurodevelopment |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
