Cited by 258Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchGenetics and Neurodevelopmental DisordersNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Lack of parvalbumin in mice leads to behavioral deficits relevant to all human autism core symptoms and related neural morphofunctional abnormalities

Open access
Wöhr, M, Orduz, D, Gregory, P, Moreno, H, Khan, U, Vörckel, K J, Wolfer, D P, Welzl, H +3 more·2015·Translational Psychiatry

Abstract

Gene mutations and gene copy number variants are associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Affected gene products are often part of signaling networks implicated in synapse formation and/or function leading to alterations in the excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance. Although the network of parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons has gained particular attention in ASD, little is known on PV's putative role with respect to ASD. Genetic mouse models represent powerful translational tools for studying the role of genetic and neurobiological factors underlying ASD. Here, we report that PV knockout mice (PV(-/-)) display behavioral phenotypes with relevance to all three core symptoms present in human ASD patients: abnormal reciprocal social interactions, impairments in communication and repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior. PV-depleted mice also showed several signs of ASD-associated comorbidities, such as reduced pain sensitivity and startle responses yet increased seizure susceptibility, whereas no evidence for behavioral phenotypes with relevance to anxiety, depression and schizophrenia was obtained. Reduced social interactions and communication were also observed in heterozygous (PV(+/-)) mice characterized by lower PV expression levels, indicating that merely a decrease in PV levels might be sufficient to elicit core ASD-like deficits. Structural magnetic resonance imaging measurements in PV(-/-) and PV(+/-) mice further revealed ASD-associated developmental neuroanatomical changes, including transient cortical hypertrophy and cerebellar hypoplasia. Electrophysiological experiments finally demonstrated that the E/I balance in these mice is altered by modification of both inhibitory and excitatory synaptic transmission. On the basis of the reported changes in PV expression patterns in several, mostly genetic rodent models of ASD, we propose that in these models downregulation of PV might represent one of the points of convergence, thus providing a common link between apparently unrelated ASD-associated synapse structure/function phenotypes.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/tp.2015.19

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wöhr, M., Orduz, D., Gregory, P., Moreno, H., Khan, U., Vörckel, K. J., Wolfer, D. P., Welzl, H., Gall, D., Schiffmann, S. N., & Schwaller, B.
Affiliations
  • Philipps University of Marburg (DE)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
  • University of Fribourg (CH)
  • SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University (US)
  • University of Zurich (CH)
Corresponding author
Schwaller, B
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Published
2015-03-10
Volume
5
Issue
3
Pages
e525-e525
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2037553020
Cited by
258
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 10
FWCI
14.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • ETH Zürich Research Collection
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • State University of New York
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG_WO1732/1-1, WO 1732/1‐1, 1732/1–1)
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (241498, 130680)
  • Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
  • Fondation Médicale Reine Elisabeth
  • National Institutes of Health
  • SUNY Downstate Medical Center
  • Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich
  • National Institute on Aging (AG027476, K08AG027476)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
parvalbumin, autism spectrum disorder, social interaction deficits, communication difficulties, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors, excitation-inhibition balance, parvalbumin interneurons, cortical hypertrophy, cerebellar hypoplasia, pain sensitivity, startle response, seizure susceptibility, synaptic transmission, mouse models of autism
MeSH terms
Analysis of Variance, Animals, Autistic Disorder, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Disease Models, Animal, Humans, Hypertrophy, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Neurons, Organ Size, Parvalbumins, Vocalization, Animal, Mice, Knockout, Mice

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review