Autism Research Database - Principal Investigator Project Details | IACC

Project Element	Element Description
Project Title Project Title	Neural circuitry linking oxytocin deficiency and social impairment in ASD
Principal Investigator Principal Investigator	Choe, Katrina
Description Description	Recent research has shown that CNTNAP2 is an autism risk gene, and creating a mutation of this gene in mice causes multiple autism-like behavioral phenotypes including abnormal social behavior. In these mice, a lowered level of brain oxytocin has been found, and supplementing the hormone remarkably improves their social behavior. It remains unknown how a mutation in this gene leads to lowered brain oxytocin, and also how this interferes with social behavior. I propose to investigate the brain circuit abnormalities involving oxytocin neurons in the Cntnap2 knockout mice, with aims to discover how gene disruptions can interfere with proper development of brain circuits, which may underlie abnormal social behavior observed in autism.
Funder Funder	Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Funding Country Funding Country	Canada
Fiscal Year Funding Fiscal Year Funding	52915
Current Award Period Current Award Period	2016-2018
Strategic Plan Question Strategic Plan Question	Question 2: What is the Biology Underlying ASD?
Funder’s Project Link Funder’s Project Link	No URL available.
Institution Institution	University of California (Los Angeles)
Institute Location Institute Location	United States
Project Number Project Number	359433
Government or Private Government or Private	Government
History/Related Projects History/Related Projects	Neural circuitry linking oxytocin deficiency and social impairment in ASD \| 75000 \| 2016 \| 401457 Neural circuitry linking oxytocin deficiency and social impairment in ASD \| 150000 \| 2017 \| 401457 Neural circuitry linking oxytocin deficiency and social impairment in ASD \| 75000 \| 2018 \| 401457

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