Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, featuring social communication deficit and repetitive/restricted behaviors as common symptoms. Its prevalence has continuously increased, but, till now, there are no therapeutic approaches to relieve the core symptoms, particularly social deficit. In previous studies, abnormal function of the glutamatergic neural system has been proposed as a critical mediator and therapeutic target of ASD-associated symptoms. Here, we investigated the possible roles of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) in autism symptoms using two well-known autistic animal models, Cntnap2 knockout (KO) mice and in utero valproic acid-exposed ICR (VPA) mice. We found that Cntnap2 KO mice displayed decreased glutamate receptor expression and transmission. Contrarily, VPA mice exhibited increased glutamate receptor expression and transmission. Next, we investigated whether AMPAR modulators (positive-allosteric-modulator for Cntnap2 KO mice and antagonist for VPA mice) can improve autistic symptoms by normalizing the aberrant excitatory transmission in the respective animal models. Interestingly, the AMPAR modulation specifically ameliorated social deficits in both animal models. These results indicated that AMPAR-derived excitatory neural transmission changes can affect normal social behavior. To validate this, we injected an AMPAR agonist or antagonist in control ICR mice and, interestingly, these treatments impaired only the social behavior, without affecting the repetitive and hyperactive behaviors. Collectively, these results provide insight into the role of AMPARs in the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of ASD, and demonstrate that modulation of AMPAR can be a potential target for the treatment of social behavior deficits associated with ASD.

中文翻译：

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AMPA 受体的药理学调节可挽救自闭症动物模型中的社会障碍。

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经发育障碍，以社会沟通障碍和重复/受限行为为常见症状。它的患病率不断增加，但到目前为止，还没有治疗方法可以缓解核心症状，特别是社会缺陷。在以前的研究中，谷氨酸能神经系统的异常功能已被提出作为 ASD 相关症状的关键介质和治疗靶点。在这里，我们使用两种著名的自闭症动物模型，Cntnap2 敲除 (KO) 小鼠和子宫内丙戊酸，研究了 α-氨基-3-羟基-5-甲基-4-异恶唑丙酸受体 (AMPAR) 在自闭症症状中的可能作用。酸暴露的 ICR (VPA) 小鼠。我们发现 Cntnap2 KO 小鼠显示谷氨酸受体表达和传递降低。相反，VPA 小鼠表现出增加的谷氨酸受体表达和传递。接下来，我们研究了 AMPAR 调节剂（Cntnap2 KO 小鼠的正变构调节剂和 VPA 小鼠的拮抗剂）是否可以通过使各自动物模型中的异常兴奋性传递正常化来改善自闭症症状。有趣的是，AMPAR 调制特别改善了两种动物模型中的社会缺陷。这些结果表明，AMPAR 衍生的兴奋性神经传递变化可以影响正常的社会行为。为了验证这一点，我们在对照 ICR 小鼠中注射了一种 AMPAR 激动剂或拮抗剂，有趣的是，这些治疗只损害了社会行为，而不影响重复和过度活跃的行为。集体，