A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism
Abstract Social touch is critical for communication to impart emotions and intentions. However, certain autistic individuals experience aversion to social touch. Here, we used Neuropixels probes to record neural responses to social vs. non-social interactions in somatosensory cortex, tail of striatu...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
|
| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59852-6 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849432696610095104 |
|---|---|
| author | Trishala Chari Ariana Hernandez João Couto Carlos Portera-Cailliau |
| author_facet | Trishala Chari Ariana Hernandez João Couto Carlos Portera-Cailliau |
| author_sort | Trishala Chari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Social touch is critical for communication to impart emotions and intentions. However, certain autistic individuals experience aversion to social touch. Here, we used Neuropixels probes to record neural responses to social vs. non-social interactions in somatosensory cortex, tail of striatum, and basolateral amygdala. We find that wild type mice show aversion to repeated presentations of an inanimate object but not of another mouse. Cortical neurons are modulated especially by touch context (social vs. object), while striatal neurons change their preference depending on whether mice could choose or not to interact. In contrast, Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice, a model of autism, find social and non-social interactions equally aversive, especially at close proximity, and their cortical/striatal neurons are less able to discriminate social valence. A linear model shows that the encoding of certain avoidance/aversive behaviors in cortical neuron activity differed between genotypes. Thus, a reduced capacity to represent social stimuli at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0a5fc8d52fcf436bb74ab4d275277eb5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-0a5fc8d52fcf436bb74ab4d275277eb52025-08-20T03:27:18ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-05-0116111810.1038/s41467-025-59852-6A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autismTrishala Chari0Ariana Hernandez1João Couto2Carlos Portera-Cailliau3Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los AngelesDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los AngelesDepartment of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los AngelesDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los AngelesAbstract Social touch is critical for communication to impart emotions and intentions. However, certain autistic individuals experience aversion to social touch. Here, we used Neuropixels probes to record neural responses to social vs. non-social interactions in somatosensory cortex, tail of striatum, and basolateral amygdala. We find that wild type mice show aversion to repeated presentations of an inanimate object but not of another mouse. Cortical neurons are modulated especially by touch context (social vs. object), while striatal neurons change their preference depending on whether mice could choose or not to interact. In contrast, Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice, a model of autism, find social and non-social interactions equally aversive, especially at close proximity, and their cortical/striatal neurons are less able to discriminate social valence. A linear model shows that the encoding of certain avoidance/aversive behaviors in cortical neuron activity differed between genotypes. Thus, a reduced capacity to represent social stimuli at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59852-6 |
| spellingShingle | Trishala Chari Ariana Hernandez João Couto Carlos Portera-Cailliau A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism Nature Communications |
| title | A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| title_full | A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| title_fullStr | A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| title_short | A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| title_sort | reduced ability to discriminate social from non social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59852-6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT trishalachari areducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT arianahernandez areducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT joaocouto areducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT carlosporteracailliau areducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT trishalachari reducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT arianahernandez reducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT joaocouto reducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism AT carlosporteracailliau reducedabilitytodiscriminatesocialfromnonsocialtouchatthecircuitlevelmayunderliesocialavoidanceinautism |