Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that is characterized by difficulty in social behavior and restricted behaviors. Also, in ASD, several accompanying disorders such as anxiety are observed. Considering the important role of amygdala in the pathophysiology of ASD, the present study focused on the neuronal changes and it possible signaling pathway in amygdala. After prenatal exposure to valproate (VPA; 600 mg/kg, i.p, on embryonic day 12.5), amount of ROS, MMP, caspase-3 activity, AMPK, SIRT1 and PGC1α proteins, and parvalbumin interneurons in the amygdala were assessed following evaluation of ASD and anxiety-like behaviors. Amygdala analysis revealed ROS accumulation and decreased MMP in autistic rats. In addition, caspase-3 activation elevated and immunoreactivity for parvalbumin interneurons decreased. These were accompanied by anxiety and autistic-like behaviors in open field test, elevated zero maze and U-Shaped 2 Choice Field maze. Also, our data showed that in the valproate group, protein levels of AMPK, SIRT1 and PGC1α reduced. Collectively, our results indicate that prenatal exposure to valproate leads to anxiety and autistic-like behaviors, partly through its targeting amygdala parvalbumin interneurons dysfunction and this might be affected by disturbed AMPK/SIRT1/PGC1α signaling pathway.
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Data of this study will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Abbreviations
- AMPK:
-
Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase
- ASD:
-
Autism spectrum disorder
- BLA:
-
Basolateral amygdala
- CAT:
-
Catalase
- Casp3:
-
Caspase-3
- Gpx:
-
Glutathione Peroxidase
- MMP:
-
Mitochondrial membrane potential
- PGC1α:
-
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 alpha
- PV:
-
Parvalbumin
- PVI:
-
Parvalbumin-positive interneuron
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- SIRT1:
-
Sirtuin 1
- SOD:
-
Superoxide dismutase
- VPA:
-
Valproate
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This research study was certified and financially supported (grant # 49200) by Tehran University of Medical Science (Tehran, Iran).
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SSS and MR conceived and designed the study. EZ and AS conducted experiments, analyzed data and wrote the initial manuscript. All authors contributed equally for finalizing the manuscript.
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Zahedi, E., Sadr, S.S., Sanaeierad, A. et al. Valproate-induced murine autism spectrum disorder is associated with dysfunction of amygdala parvalbumin interneurons and downregulation of AMPK/SIRT1/PGC1α signaling. Metab Brain Dis 38, 2093–2103 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-023-01227-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-023-01227-1