Environmental Enrichment Intervention in Animal Models of Autism

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopment disorder caused by genetic and environmental factors. Animal models of autism could help to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and treatment approaches of this disease. Environmental enrichment has been demonstrated to exert beneficial effects in wild-type rodents as well as animal models of various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Here we review the findings about the effect of environmental enrichment on animal models of autism. Generally, environmental enrichment results in less anxietylike behavior, reduces repetitive behavior and the deficits in social and cognitive behaviors. Environmental enrichment therefore appears to be an effective model for non-pharmacological intervention in autism therapy.Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopment disorder, characterized by core features of impairments in social interaction and communication, and repetitive and stereotyped behaviors [1] , along with some co-occurring symptoms such as sleeping disorder, anxiety and aggression [2] . The exact etiology of autism remains unclear. Numerous studies on twins and siblings found a more than 90 % concordance rates in monozygotic twins [3,4] , as compared with 0 -10 % in dizygotic twins [3,4] and 3 -14 % in siblings [5][6][7] , which revealed the contribution of genetic factors to this disorder.

Multi-parametric assays capture sex- and environment-dependent modifiers of behavioral phenotypes in autism mouse models

“…Research using animal models of autism has focused mainly on the genetic mechanisms underlying this disorder. Several studies investigated home-cage enrichment as an environmental modifier, which has been shown to ameliorate the autism-like phenotype in some genetic models [28][29][30] . However, sex is also a modifier of autism risk.…”