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Cited by 39Tactile and Sensory InteractionsAutism Spectrum Disorder ResearchNeuroendocrine regulation and behavior

Neonatal whisker trimming impairs fear/anxiety-related emotional systems of the amygdala and social behaviors in adult mice

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Soumiya, Hitomi, Godai, Ayumi, Araiso, Hiromi, Mori, Shingo, Furukawa, Shoei, Fukumitsu, Hidefumi·2016·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0158583PMC PMC4928826
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Abstract

Abnormalities in tactile perception, such as sensory defensiveness, are common features in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While not a diagnostic criterion for ASD, deficits in tactile perception contribute to the observed lack of social communication skills. However, the influence of tactile perception deficits on the development of social behaviors remains uncertain, as do the effects on neuronal circuits related to the emotional regulation of social interactions. In neonatal rodents, whiskers are the most important tactile apparatus, so bilateral whisker trimming is used as a model of early tactile deprivation. To address the influence of tactile deprivation on adult behavior, we performed bilateral whisker trimming in mice for 10 days after birth (BWT10 mice) and examined social behaviors, tactile discrimination, and c-Fos expression, a marker of neural activation, in adults after full whisker regrowth. Adult BWT10 mice exhibited significantly shorter crossable distances in the gap-crossing test than age-matched controls, indicating persistent deficits in whisker-dependent tactile perception. In contrast to controls, BWT10 mice exhibited no preference for the social compartment containing a conspecific in the three-chamber test. Furthermore, the development of amygdala circuitry was severely affected in BWT10 mice. Based on the c-Fos expression pattern, hyperactivity was found in BWT10 amygdala circuits for processing fear/anxiety-related responses to height stress but not in circuits for processing reward stimuli during whisker-dependent cued learning. These results demonstrate that neonatal whisker trimming and concomitant whisker-dependent tactile discrimination impairment severely disturbs the development of amygdala-dependent emotional regulation.

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  • Adult mice whose whiskers had been trimmed at 10 days old exhibited both social deficits and profound changes in amygdala activation, including hypersensitivity to stress.

    “Adult mice whose whiskers had been trimmed at 10 days old (which causes pronounced tactile deficits) exhibited both social deficits and profound changes in amygdala activation, including hypersensitivity to stress (Soumiya et al., 2016).”

    From Sensory, emotional and cognitive contributions to anxiety in autism spectrum disorders (2017) · cites this paper as Soumiya et al., 2016

    The Methods (Sensory deprivation) say whiskers were trimmed daily for 10 days beginning at postnatal day 1, not that they were trimmed at 10 days old. The Results (Neonatal whisker trimming resulted in adult social behavior deficits) report altered adult social behavior, and the Discussion reports altered amygdala activation following height stress. The evidence supports a heightened response to height stress, but not a general hypersensitivity to stress. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Soumiya, H., Godai, A., Araiso, H., Mori, S., Furukawa, S., & Fukumitsu, H.
Affiliations
Gifu Pharmaceutical University (JP)
Corresponding author
Fukumitsu, Hidefumi
ORCID
Fukumitsu, Hidefumi
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2016-06-30
Volume
11
Issue
6
Pages
e0158583
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0158583
PMC
PMC4928826
OpenAlex
W2463443371
Cited by
39
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3
FWCI
2.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI Grant Number 24591519)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
Keywords
whisker trimming, autism spectrum disorder, tactile perception, social behavior, amygdala, Fos expression, reward processing, neonatal development, mouse model
MeSH terms
Amygdala, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Anxiety, Behavior, Animal, Emotions, Fear, Male, Nerve Net, Sensory Deprivation, Social Behavior, Social Dominance, Stress, Psychological, Touch, Vibrissae, Mice

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