ArticleInternational journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience2013
Acute prenatal exposure to a moderate dose of valproic acid increases social behavior and alters gene expression in rats.
Article in International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Natural products modulate social behavior and gut microbiota in a valproic acid-induced zebrafish model of autism spectrum disorder.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2026Article
- Contextual auditory processing in the inferior colliculus is affected in a sex- and age-dependent manner in the valproic acid-induced rat model of autism.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Pre- and Postnatal Valproate Exposure Affects Brain Development.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Differential Alterations in Striatal Direct and Indirect Pathways Mediate Two Autism-like Behaviors in Valproate-Exposed Mice.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Article
- SAMe, Choline, and Valproic Acid as Possible Epigenetic Drugs: Their Effects in Pregnancy with a Special Emphasis on Animal Studies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Epilepsy in Pregnancy-Management Principles and Focus on Valproate.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Serotonin-related rodent models of early-life exposure relevant for neurodevelopmental vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2021Review
- Inhibition of striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase (STEP) activity reverses behavioral deficits in a rodent model of autism.Behavioural brain research · 2020Article
- Microinjection of valproic acid into the ventrolateral orbital cortex exerts an antinociceptive effect in a rat of neuropathic pain.Psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Prenatal Exposure to Valproic Acid Affects Microglia and Synaptic Ultrastructure in a Brain-Region-Specific Manner in Young-Adult Male Rats: Relevance to Autism Spectrum Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation in Early Life Changes Synaptic Plasticity and Improves Symptoms in a Valproic Acid-Induced Rat Model of Autism.Neural plasticity · 2020Article
- Consequences of prenatal exposure to valproic acid in the socially monogamous prairie voles.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- RDoC-based categorization of amygdala functions and its implications in autism.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2018Review
- Alterations of Growth Factors in Autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2017Article
- Developmental disruption of amygdala transcriptome and socioemotional behavior in rats exposed to valproic acid prenatally.Molecular autism · 2017Article
- Validation of reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR in valproic acid rat models of autism.Molecular biology reports · 2016Article
- Butyrate, neuroepigenetics and the gut microbiome: Can a high fiber diet improve brain health?Neuroscience letters · 2016Review
- Overexpression of Homer1a in the basal and lateral amygdala impairs fear conditioning and induces an autism-like social impairment.Molecular autism · 2016Article
- Docosahexaenoic acid partially ameliorates deficits in social behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations caused by prenatal ethanol exposure.Behavioural brain research · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Prenatal exposure to moderate doses of valproic acid (VPA) produces brainstem abnormalities, while higher doses of this teratogen elicit social deficits in the rat. In this pilot study, we examined effects of prenatal exposure to a moderate dose of VPA on behavior and on transcriptomic expression in three brain regions that mediate social behavior. Pregnant Long Evans rats were injected with 350 mg/kg VPA or saline on gestational day 13. A modified social interaction test was used to assess social behavior and social preference/avoidance during early and late adolescence and in adulthood. VPA-exposed animals demonstrated more social investigation and play fighting than control animals. Social investigation, play fighting, and contact behavior also differed as a function of age; the frequency of these behaviors increased in late adolescence. Social preference and locomotor activity under social circumstances were unaffected by treatment or age. Thus, a moderate prenatal dose of VPA produces behavioral alterations that are substantially different from the outcomes that occur following exposure to a higher dose. At adulthood, VPA-exposed subjects exhibited transcriptomic abnormalities in three brain regions: anterior amygdala, cerebellar vermis, and orbitofrontal cortex. A common feature among the proteins encoded by the dysregulated genes was their ability to be modulated by acetylation. Analysis of the expression of individual exons also revealed that genes involved in post-translational modification and epigenetic regulation had particular isoforms that were ubiquitously dysregulated across brain regions. The vulnerability of these genes to the epigenetic effects of VPA may highlight potential mechanisms by which prenatal VPA exposure alters the development of social behavior.
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