Interdisciplinary research on autism: Behavioral measures in the development of a mouse model of autism

a great deal of biomedical research has provided experimental evidence of the function of specific neuropeptides in the development of autistic symptomatology. interdisciplinary research in this area would provide a more comprehensive understanding of autism by integrating the findings and contributions from both behavior analysis and biology. in this preliminary interdisciplinary study, pregnant mice were injected with lipopolysaccharide - lps (experimental group) on the 17th day of gestation and their litters were compared to the litters of mice that were not injected. measures of social interaction were taken in two periods, namely when the pups were juveniles and when they were young adults, using an abab design consisting on the presence/absence of the mother in the chamber. the social interaction of each pup was assessed by observing the number of approaches it made towards its mother. average velocity, calculated as distance traveled over time, for each mouse during the session was also collected. it was concluded that further refinement of the measure of social interaction was needed, and that a measure of behavioral development may prove useful in the construction of a mouse model of autism.