A32 Environmental Enrichment Reverses Behavioral Alterations in Rats Prenataly Exposed to Valproic Acid

The Effect of Prenatal Valproate Exposure in Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats On Anxiety and Cognition: A Gene*Environment Interaction Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In previous research, it was found that rats with a complete genetic deletion of the SERT also showed an increase latency to start eating (Olivier et al, 2008). In line with performance on the extensively documented paradigm in VPA rat model literature, the EPM Schneider, Turczak, & Przewlocki, 2005); rats prenatally exposed to VPA had a significantly longer latency to begin feeding than the saline cohort in the present study.…”

“…Levels of anxiety have been found to be significantly higher in people with ASD compared to controls subjects, a phenomenon which has been replicated and reliably found in studies looking specifically at anxiety and comorbidity in ASD (White et al, 2009). This pattern of increased anxiety is echoed in animal models such as the prenatal VPA rat model of ASD which has consistently shown behaviours indicative of increased anxiety Schneider, Turczak, & Przewlocki, 2005;Schneider et al, 2007). It has been posited that the behaviours observed in VPA rats point to a disruption in the systems responsible for regulating reaction to stressful stimuli (Schneider et al, 2007).…”