One-fifth of babies who inherit a genetic variant located on chromosome 16 will develop autism spectrum disorder by age 3. The variant is called 16p11.2 deletion.<\/p>\n
Noboru Hiroi, PhD, professor in the departments of Pharmacology, Cellular and Integrative Physiology, and Cell Systems and Anatomy, is studying mice that have this deletion. The team is harnessing the power of machine learning to understand which vocalizations of the newborn mouse pups are most predictive of social abnormalities one month later when the pups reach puberty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is essential to identify those very early signs that can predict what is to come, because if we can translate what we discover in mouse pups to human infants and apply therapeutic options earlier, their outcome will be better,\u201d Hiroi said.<\/p>\n
When mouse pups are separated from their mothers, they emit ultrasonic vocalizations in a certain order. Mouse mothers respond to the cries and take care of their offspring.<\/p>\n
The cries are abnormal in mice with the 16p11.2 deletion.<\/p>\n
\u201cPups that carry this genetic variation cannot form the correct sequence,\u201d Hiroi said. \u201cWe want to know whether those abnormal sequences or combinations of call types can predict what is to come one month later in their social behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Machine learning will enable the team to develop a precise diagnostic algorithm for autism spectrum disorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we can do this with the mouse vocalizations, we can apply the same algorithm to the cries of human babies,\u201d Hiroi said.<\/p>\n
Infants at risk of the disorder who are identified in this way can be given desensitization therapy so that they don\u2019t overreact to certain cues they don\u2019t like, he said. And behavioral therapies can be applied to help babies learn how to cope in social situations.<\/p>\n
The research is described in the journal\u00a0Molecular Psychiatry<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One-fifth of babies who inherit a genetic variant located on chromosome 16 will develop autism spectrum disorder by age 3. In a mouse study, UT Health San Antonio researchers are trying to identify which newborn mouse pups are most susceptible. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":11756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,271],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[287],"class_list":["post-11745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-spring-2023"],"yoast_head":"\n