Chapter 15, Problem 2DAA

Enhanced Spatial Learning in Mice With an Autism Mutation Autism is a neurobiological disorder with symptoms that include impaired social interactions and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Around 10 percent of autistic people have an extraordinary skill or talent such as greatly enhanced memory.

Mutations in neuroligin 3, an adhesion protein that connects brain cells to one another, have been associated with autism. One mutation changes amino acid 451 from arginine to cysteine. In 2007, Katsuhiko Tabuchi and his colleagues genetically modified mice to carry the same arginine-to-cysteine substitution in their neuroligin 3. Mice with the mutation had impaired social behavior.

To test spatial learning ability, the mice were placed in a water maze: a deep pool of warm water in which a platform is submerged a few millimeters below the surface. The platform is not visible to swimming mice. Mice do not particularly enjoy swimming, so they locate a hidden platform as fast as they can. When tested again, they can remember its location by checking visual cues around the edge of the pool. How quickly they remember the platform’s location is a measure of spatial learning ability (FIGURE 15.18).

FIGURE 15.18 spatial learning ability in mica mutation in neuroligin 3 (R451C), compared with unmodified (wild-type) mica.

2. Did the modified or the unmodified mice learn the location of the platform faster in the first test?