Autophagy activity contributes to the impairment of social recognition in Epac2^-/- mice

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that regulates cellular homeostasis. It is constitutively active in neurons and controls the essential steps of neuronal development, leading to its dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders. Although mTOR-associated impaired autophagy has previously been reported in neurodevelopmental disorders, there is lack of information about the dysregulation of mTOR-independent autophagy in neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, we investigated whether the loss of Epac2, involved in the mTOR-independent pathway, affects autophagy activity and whether the activity of autophagy is associated with social-behavioral phenotypes in mice with Epac2 deficiencies. We observed an accumulation of autophagosomes and a significant increase in autophagic flux in Epac2-deficient neurons, which had no effect on mTOR activity. Next, we examined whether an increase in autophagic activity contributed to the social behavior exhibited in Epac2^-/- mice. The social recognition deficit observed in Epac2^-/- mice recovered in double transgenic Epac2^-/-: Atg5^+/- mice. Our study suggests that excessive autophagy due to Epac2 deficiencies may contribute to social recognition defects through an mTOR-independent pathway.