Many neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, fragile X syndrome, and schizophrenia, feature aberrant social behavior as a core characteristic. These disorders include a broad array of social impairments, ranging from deficits in shared attention, to communication delays, to social withdrawal. The underlying genetic causes of these social impairments remain largely unknown. Mouse models have tremendous value for elucidating the roles of genes in development. To more fully understand the genetics of social behavior, the investigators propose an expanded panel of mouse behavioral tests that allow them to explore small functional units of social behavior, or social endophenotypes. Specifically, three features of social functioning will be evaluated: the extent to which a social stimulus affects a trained goal-directed behavior, the extent to which social interaction can serve as reward or reinforcement, and the degree that a social stimulus can serve as a spatial cue for learning and memory. We propose to determine if these endophenotypes can be distinguished in five common inbred mouse strains. We then propose to determine if these endophenotypes are anomalous in knockout mice with known deficits in social behavior, including oxytocin and fosB knockout mice, and the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 1 hypomorphic mouse. It is expected that some of the knockout mice will exhibit more profound deficits in these measures than both wild-type littermates and the five inbred strains. By developing new measures of mouse social endophenotypes, the investigators can more precisely delineate the roles of particular genes in social functionality. In future projects, this work is likely to provide greater understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the social impairments that are associated with developmental disorders, such as autism.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
1R03HD046716-01A1
Application #
6920461
Study Section
Pediatrics Subcommittee (CHHD)
Program Officer
Oster-Granite, Mary Lou
Project Start
2005-04-01
Project End
2007-03-31
Budget Start
2005-04-01
Budget End
2006-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$72,750
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Surgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Mills, Brian D; Pearce, Hadley L; Khan, Omar et al. (2016) Prenatal domoic acid exposure disrupts mouse pro-social behavior and functional connectivity MRI. Behav Brain Res 308:14-23
Panksepp, Jules B; Lahvis, Garet P (2011) Rodent empathy and affective neuroscience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 35:1864-75
Bishop, Somer L; Lahvis, Garet P (2011) The autism diagnosis in translation: shared affect in children and mouse models of ASD. Autism Res 4:317-35
Chen, QiLiang; Panksepp, Jules B; Lahvis, Garet P (2009) Empathy is moderated by genetic background in mice. PLoS One 4:e4387
Panksepp, Jules B; Jochman, Kimberly A; Kim, Joseph U et al. (2007) Affiliative behavior, ultrasonic communication and social reward are influenced by genetic variation in adolescent mice. PLoS One 2:e351
Panksepp, J B; Lahvis, G P (2007) Social reward among juvenile mice. Genes Brain Behav 6:661-71