July 2008 -- Research May Help Enhance Social Cognition in People with Autism
 The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1-in-150 children nationwide are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. These statistics have led some to refer to the behavioral disorder as an “urgent public health concern.”
ASD is a developmental disorder characterized by aberrant social interactions, impairments in communication and repetitive stereotyped patterns of behavior. CBN student Meera Modi is conducting research that may lead to a potential treatment that could enhance social cognition and ameliorate some of the social deficits in ASD.
Modi is a rising fourth-year Emory University Neuroscience Graduate Program student who works in the lab of Larry Young, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University’s School of Medicine and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Previous CBN-supported research in Dr. Young’s lab found that mice lacking oxytocin fail to process social cues normally and that oxytocin receptors in the brains of monogamous prairie voles promote social bonding. Based on these results, it has been suggested that inadequate levels of oxytocin, possibly in the amygdala might explain the inability of autistic people to recognize social cues and to create normal social relationships.
“I am working to develop social bonding in the prairie vole as a predictive model for the development of drugs that may be useful in enhancing social cognition in individuals with autism,” Modi said. “Prairie voles have a much more complex repertoire of social behavior than either rats or mice, and social bonding in voles relies on a series of social cognitive processes. By studying an animal with complex social behavior we are better able to characterize specific phenotypes, look at the neurobiological mechanisms underlying them and determine how different pharmacological agents may affect them.”
As a part of an Autism Speaks Fellowship she received in December 2007, Modi will conduct a series of experiments designed to understand the interaction between oxytocin and glutamate, which includes testing whether clinically available glutamatergic compounds can enhance social cognition in the prairie vole.
“Both oxytocin and drugs that target the glutamate system are currently under investigation as possible therapeutic agents in autism so our studies are important to clarify how they may be operating in the brain,” she said.
Modi’s interest in the effects of glutamate receptor agonists led her to D-cycloserine (DCS), a drug formerly used to treat tuberculosis. CBN-supported research led by Mike Davis, Ph.D., and Kerry Ressler, Ph.D., of Emory University’s School of Medicine found that DCS, an NMDA receptor mixed agonist that enhances synaptic transmission in the amygdala and other parts of the brain, enhances the extinction of conditioned fear in rats and some socialphobias in humans.
Inspired by the work of Drs. Davis and Ressler, Modi and Dr. Young found that giving DCS to female prairie voles promotes partner preference formation in female prairie voles under conditions in which social bonds do not typically form, suggesting that it enhances some aspects of social cognition.
“This is the first study to show that modulation of the glutamate system can enhance social bonding,” Modi said. “We hypothesize that by enhancingglutatergic transmission in the nucleus accumbens, we are expediating the process of social learning, such that the application of DCS promotes the long term encoding of the rewards associated with social interaction. The drug has already been approved for use in humans, allowing our tests in voles to have direct implications for humans.”
Further studies will explore the effect of a combination oxytocin and DCS therapy on the enhancement of social bonding in voles and as a therapeutic strategy to treat the social cognitive deficits in ASD.
Photo courtesy of Larry Young, Ph.D., and Meera Modi, Emory University
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July 2008 -- CBN Plays Key Role in Development of GSU's Neuroscience Institute
 Since its inception in 1999, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) has played a key role in supporting neuroscience initiatives at all its member institutions including Georgia State University with the development of the Brains and Behavior Program in 2004 and most recently with the creation of the Neuroscience Institute.
The Institute, which emerged from the Brains and Behavior Program, will be a new part of Georgia State University designed to gather GSU neuroscience faculty into a single administrative home to support their research and provide new degree programs to GSU students.
“I don’t think the Institute would have ever been formed if CBN had not helped neuroscience at GSU develop into such a strong component of the University,” said Walt Wilczynski, Ph.D., Neuroscience Institute director, CBN co-director for research, and a GSU psychology professor. “The Center did this by supporting GSU’s efforts to hire more neuroscience faculty, providing neuroscience fellowships for graduate students in several departments, and supplying research funds to faculty and students which allowed their research to become nationally recognized.”
In turn, the Institute will help the CBN advance its mission of developing strong collaborative and cross-institutional neuroscience research and education components at each of its member institutions, Wilczynski said.
“Creation of the Institute will be especially beneficial to CBN student members at GSU as it enhances neuroscience graduate training at the University with the formation of a new neuroscience Ph.D. program,” he said. “The Institute’s long range plan is to develop an undergraduate neuroscience major as well, but it will be a few years before undergraduates will be able to declare a major in neuroscience.”
Wilczynski stressed that the Institute is not replacing the CBN at Georgia State, but that the two programs will pool their resources and continue to address the growing demand for information on the brain and research of possible treatments for behavioral disorders.
“Like the CBN as a whole, GSU’s Neuroscience Institute is keenly aware of the importance of a relationship with Georgia’s biotech industry. We’re helping to train the next generation of neuroscience researchers and plan to join with the CBN in new initiatives that will connect research in academic labs with industry interests, and neuroscience students with the needs of the private sector.”
For more information on the Institute email: wwilczynski@gsu.edu.
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Richardson, Georgia State University
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