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Updated: May 20, 2025
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P50 Sensory Gating in Infants
Published on: December 26, 2013
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Postnatal environment affects auditory development and sensorimotor gating in a rat model for autism spectrum
Ella Elizabeth Doornaert1, Alaa El-Cheikh Mohamad1, Gurwinder Johal1
1Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|March 26, 2025
Summary
Early environment significantly impacts autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits in genetic models. Cross-fostering CNTNAP2 knockout rats revealed that postnatal factors can both improve and worsen ASD-like behaviors and auditory processing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- The homozygous Cntnap2 knockout (KO) rat is a model for neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
- Parental genotype influences ASD-like phenotypes in Cntnap2 KO offspring, but the roles of prenatal versus postnatal environments are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of early postnatal environmental factors on auditory processing and sensorimotor gating in Cntnap2 KO rats.
- To differentiate between prenatal and postnatal effects on ASD-like phenotypes using a cross-fostering paradigm.
Main Methods:
- Cross-fostering of Cntnap2 KO pups from homozygous KO parents to heterozygous (HET) dams.
- Assessment of auditory processing, including hearing sensitivity, acoustic startle response, and prepulse inhibition.
- Evaluation of neural responsiveness and conductivity in the auditory brainstem.
Main Results:
- Cross-fostering partially reversed delayed hearing maturation, heightened startle responses, and deficits in standard prepulse inhibition.
- However, cross-fostering exacerbated deficits in auditory brainstem function and gap-induced prepulse inhibition.
- Postnatal environment significantly modulates ASD-like traits, including sensory processing alterations.
Conclusions:
- Early postnatal environmental factors, independent of prenatal genetics, play a crucial role in shaping ASD-like phenotypes.
- Auditory brainstem processing deficits in Cntnap2 KO rats are not solely determined by genetics and can be influenced by the postnatal environment.
- These findings highlight the importance of considering breeding strategies and postnatal environments in preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders.
