Abstract
Early motor and sensory developmental delays precede Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis and may serve as early indicators of ASD. The literature on sensorimotor development in animal models is sparse, male centered, and has mixed findings. We characterized early development in a prenatal valproic acid (VPA) model of ASD and found sex-specific developmental delays in VPA rats. We created a developmental composite score combining 15 test readouts, yielding a reliable gestalt measure spanning physical, sensory, and motor development, that effectively discriminated between VPA and control groups. Considering the heterogeneity in ASD phenotype, the developmental composite offers a robust metric that can enable comparison across different animal models of ASD and can serve as an outcome measure for early intervention studies.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India for the fellowship to K.A. and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru for the infrastructure facilities and support to carry out the work. We thank Dr. U.D. Kumaresan for helpful discussions.
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KA, AKN, SS and TRL contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed by KA. Data analysis was performed by KA and AKN. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KA and all authors provided feedback. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Anshu, K., Nair, A.K., Srinath, S. et al. Altered Developmental Trajectory in Male and Female Rats in a Prenatal Valproic Acid Exposure Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 4390–4411 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05684-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05684-y