Disruption of visual circuit formation and refinement in a mouse model of autism.
Ning Cheng, Maryam Khanbabaei, Kartikeya Murari and 1 others
PMID 27529416WHAT IT FOUND
In BTBR mice used to model autism, retinal inputs to a visual relay nucleus formed less precise eye-specific domains, with greater overlap at birth and into adulthood.
This describes brain wiring in mice, not a human finding.
Key findings
01In BTBR mice, the total visual relay nucleus area receiving retinal input was about 65% of that in control B6 mice at the neonatal stage.
02BTBR mice showed greater overlap between contralateral and ipsilateral inputs at neonatal and adult ages, and refinement did not fully correct the overlap.
03Aberrant retinal projections were observed in adult BTBR mice, with ipsilateral axons entering contralateral domains and contralateral axons entering ipsilateral domains.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was done in mice, not in people with autism, so it does not show what happens in a human brain. No treatment was tested, and no clinical or behavioural outcome was measured in this experiment. The BTBR strain has agenesis of the corpus callosum, a major brain wiring difference that could contribute to the observed visual relay changes. The genetic basis of the BTBR phenotype is not fully known, and the model's construct validity has been questioned. The findings were limited to this visual relay nucleus and this mouse model, so they may not generalise to other brain regions or other forms of autism.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that a visual or sensory therapy works in autism. The study measured brain wiring in mice, not human patients or treatment outcomes.