Journal
NEUROTOXICITY RESEARCH
Volume 35, Issue 2, Pages 353-359Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s12640-018-9960-9
Keywords
Propionic acid; Startle response; Sensorimotor gating; Short-chain fatty acid; Rat
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by cognitive and sensorimotor deficits, among others. Hypo-sensitivity and hyper-sensitivity to different stimuli within the same sensory modality, a prominent symptom of ASD, can be assessed by acoustic startle response (ASR) and prepulse inhibition (PPI). Propionic acid (PPA) is a short-chain fatty acid and a by-product of the human gut microbiome. Rodents treated with PPA has been found to produce ASD-related behavioral abnormalities, gastrointestinal discomfort, and conditioned aversions. The present study examined ASR and PPI in adult male rats treated systemically (intraperitoneal injections) with two different doses of PPA. A single injection of PPA produced significant dose-dependent reductions in startle response magnitude relative to control rats. However, PPA-treated rats did not show significant sensorimotor gating abnormalities relative to controls, based on the PPI measures. These findings add to the growing body of evidence supporting the validity of the PPA rodent model of ASD.
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