Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a debilitating developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social communication and interaction. Individuals with autism may also exhibit atypical learning strategies, moving skills, or attention difficulties. These characteristics can make life very challenging, especially for children. In order to better understand autism, we need to expand our knowledge about the specific brain regions involved. Increasing evidence points to an important role of the cerebellum in ASD. The cerebellum is a part of the brain involved in controlling balance for walking and standing. It can also play a role in cognitive functions such as language comprehension and attention. Recent research has implicated that serotonin is an important modulator of cerebellar activity. Serotonin is a chemical that carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and plays a key role in regulating mood, attention and cognition. In patients with ASD, serotonin levels in the cerebellum are found to be dysregulated. However, how the cerebellar serotonin alteration affects the function of the cerebellum and contributes to the symptoms underlying ASD remains largely unknown. This lack of information is a problem, since we can only design treatment targets for ASD if we understand the mechanisms involved. Here, we focus on this question to reveal the mechanisms underlying alterations in serotonin in a mouse model of autism. This study will help understand about the unknown role of cerebellum dysfunction in ASD, and will potentially offer new treatment approaches for this disorder.