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Title: Prenatal and early-life diesel exhaust exposure causes autism-like behavioral changes in mice.

Authors: Chang, Yu-Chi; Cole, Toby B; Costa, Lucio G

Published In Part Fibre Toxicol, (2018 Apr 20)

Abstract: Escalating prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in recent decades has triggered increasing efforts in understanding roles played by environmental risk factors as a way to address this widespread public health concern. Several epidemiological studies show associations between developmental exposure to traffic-related air pollution and increased ASD risk. In rodent models, a limited number of studies have shown that developmental exposure to ambient ultrafine particulates or diesel exhaust (DE) can result in behavioral phenotypes consistent with mild ASD. We performed a series of experiments to determine whether developmental DE exposure induces ASD-related behaviors in mice.C57Bl/6J mice were exposed from embryonic day 0 to postnatal day 21 to 250-300 μg/m3 DE or filtered air (FA) as control. Mice exposed developmentally to DE exhibited deficits in all three of the hallmark categories of ASD behavior: reduced social interaction in the reciprocal interaction and social preference tests, increased repetitive behavior in the T-maze and marble-burying test, and reduced or altered communication as assessed by measuring isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations and responses to social odors.These findings demonstrate that exposure to traffic-related air pollution, in particular that associated with diesel-fuel combustion, can cause ASD-related behavioral changes in mice, and raise concern about air pollution as a contributor to the onset of ASD in humans.

PubMed ID: 29678176 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Air Pollutants/toxicity*; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Autistic Disorder/chemically induced*; Autistic Disorder/physiopathology; Behavior, Animal/drug effects*; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Gestational Age; Inhalation Exposure/adverse effects*; Maze Learning/drug effects; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/chemically induced*; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/physiopathology; Vehicle Emissions/toxicity*

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