RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Male and Female Mice Lacking Neuroligin-3 Modify the Behavior of Their Wild-Type Littermates
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0145-17.2017
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0145-17.2017
VO 4
IS 4
A1 Shireene Kalbassi
A1 Sven O. Bachmann
A1 Ellen Cross
A1 Victoria H. Roberton
A1 Stéphane J. Baudouin
YR 2017
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/4/4/ENEURO.0145-17.2017.abstract
AB In most mammals, including humans, the postnatal acquisition of normal social and nonsocial behavior critically depends on interactions with peers. Here we explore the possibility that mixed-group housing of mice carrying a deletion of Nlgn3, a gene associated with autism spectrum disorders, and their wild-type littermates induces changes in each other’s behavior. We have found that, when raised together, male Nlgn3 knockout mice and their wild-type littermates displayed deficits in sociability. Moreover, social submission in adult male Nlgn3 knockout mice correlated with an increase in their anxiety. Re-expression of Nlgn3 in parvalbumin-expressing cells in transgenic animals rescued their social behavior and alleviated the phenotype of their wild-type littermates, further indicating that the social behavior of Nlgn3 knockout mice has a direct and measurable impact on wild-type animals’ behavior. Finally, we showed that, unlike male mice, female mice lacking Nlgn3 were insensitive to their peers’ behavior but modified the social behavior of their littermates. Altogether, our findings show that the environment is a critical factor in the development of behavioral phenotypes in transgenic and wild-type mice. In addition, these results reveal that the social environment has a sexually dimorphic effect on the behavior of mice lacking Nlgn3, being more influential in males than females.