| First Author | Xiang L | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | Cell Death Dis | Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 638 |
| PubMed ID | 35869039 | Mgi Jnum | J:327344 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7325737 | Doi | 10.1038/s41419-022-05083-2 |
| Citation | Xiang L, et al. (2022) SARM1 deletion in parvalbumin neurons is associated with autism-like behaviors in mice. Cell Death Dis 13(7):638 |
| abstractText | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a group of neurodevelopmental disorder diseases, is characterized by social deficits, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. Sterile alpha and TIR motif-containing 1 protein (SARM1) is known as an autism-associated protein and is enriched in brain tissue. Moreover, SARM1 knockdown mice exhibit autism-like behaviors. However, its specific mechanism in ASD pathogenesis remains unclear. Here we generated parvalbumin-positive interneurons (PVI)-specific conditional SARM1 knockout (SARM1(PV)-CKO) mice. SARM1(PV)-CKO male mice showed autism-like behaviors, such as mild social interaction deficits and repetitive behaviors. Moreover, we found that the expression level of parvalbumin was reduced in SARM1(PV)-CKO male mice, together with upregulated apoptosis-related proteins and more cleaved-caspase-3-positive PVIs, suggesting that knocking out SARM1 may cause a reduction in the number of PVIs due to apoptosis. Furthermore, the expression of c-fos was shown to increase in SARM1(PV)-CKO male mice, in combination with upregulation of excitatory postsynaptic proteins such as PSD-95 or neuroligin-1, indicating enhanced excitatory synaptic input in mutant mice. This notion was further supported by the partial rescue of autism-like behavior deficits by the administration of GABA receptor agonists in SARM1(PV)-CKO male mice. In conclusion, our findings suggest that SARM1 deficiency in PVIs may be involved in the pathogenesis of ASD. |
