Date of Award
Spring 5-8-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Nueroscience
First Advisor
Hewlet McFarlane
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in communication, social interaction deficits and repetitive, stereotyped, restricted behaviors (American Psychological Association, 2017). The BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) is an inbred strain of mice that possesses several hallmark characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder, including aberrant social interactions and repetitive self-grooming (McFarlane et al., 2008). Additionally, BTBR mice have reduced inhibitory neurotransmission in comparison to their C57BL/6J (B6) counterparts (Han et al., 2014). The primary mediator of inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain is GABA acting on its receptors, primarily the GABAA subtype receptors. Previous studies have shown that agonism of the GABAA α2,3 subunits resulted in improvements in BTBR social approach (Han et al., 2014). The GABAA α2 receptor subunits are heavily localized in the hippocampus, striatum and the amygdala. The goal of this study is to examine if agonism of the GABAA2 receptor alone would result in the same improvements in sociability seen with the simultaneous agonism of the GABAA α2.
Recommended Citation
Naguib, Sarah, "GABAA2 Subunit Agonism Improves Social Interaction and Object Recognition Memory in BTBRT+tf/J Mice" (2017). Honors Theses. 204.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/honorstheses/204
Rights Statement
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