ArticleTranslational psychiatry2016
Targeting anandamide metabolism rescues core and associated autistic-like symptoms in rats prenatally exposed to valproic acid.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alterations of the endocannabinoid system in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Targeting the cholinergic and endocannabinoid systems as a therapeutic intervention for core and associated phenotypes in the autism model; a systematic review.Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy · 2025Pooled it
- Cannabis and cannabinoid use in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy · 2022Pooled it
- The endocannabinoidome-gut microbiome-brain axis as a novel therapeutic target for autism spectrum disorder.Journal of biomedical science · 2025Review
- Developmental Disturbances in Animal Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Developmental neurobiology · 2025Review
- Prenatal Exposure to Lipopolysaccharide or Valproate Leads to Abnormal Accumulation of the NMDA Receptor Agonist D-Aspartate in the Adolescent Rat Brain.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Article
- Augmentation of Endogenous 2-Arachidonoylglycerol Mitigates Autistic Behaviors of BTBR Mice.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Review
- Maternal exposure to buprenorphine, but not methadone, during pregnancy reduces social play behavior across two generations of offspring.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- The Use of Compounds Derived fromInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Unraveling the Endocannabinoid System: Exploring Its Therapeutic Potential in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Neuromolecular medicine · 2024Review
- Phosphodiesterase 2 and Its Isoform A as Therapeutic Targets in the Central Nervous System Disorders.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2024Review
- Promising therapeutic effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) in addressing autism spectrum disorder induced by valproic acid.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Article
- Group I and group II metabotropic glutamate receptors are upregulated in the synapses of infant rats prenatally exposed to valproic acid.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- The endocannabinoid system as a putative target for the development of novel drugs for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses.Psychological medicine · 2023Review
- The comparative effectiveness of metformin and risperidone in a rat model of valproic acid-induced autism, Potential role for enhanced autophagy.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol differentially modulate autistic-like traits in a genetic model of autism based on FMR1 deletion in rats.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Maternal Immune Activation Induced by Prenatal Lipopolysaccharide Exposure Leads to Long-Lasting Autistic-like Social, Cognitive and Immune Alterations in Male Wistar Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Fatty acid amide hydrolase and 9-lipoxygenase modulate cotton seedling growth by ethanolamide oxylipin levels.Plant physiology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by altered sociability, compromised communication and stereotyped/repetitive behaviors, for which no specific treatments are currently available. Prenatal exposure to valproic acid (VPA) is a known, although still underestimated, environmental risk factor for ASD. Altered endocannabinoid activity has been observed in autistic patients, and endocannabinoids are known to modulate behavioral traits that are typically affected in ASD. On this basis, we tested the hypothesis that changes in the endocannabinoid tone contribute to the altered phenotype induced by prenatal VPA exposure in rats, with focus on behavioral features that resemble the core and associated symptoms of ASD. In the course of development, VPA-exposed rats showed early deficits in social communication and discrimination, compromised sociability and social play behavior, stereotypies and increased anxiety, thus providing preclinical proof of the long-lasting deleterious effects induced by prenatal VPA exposure. At the neurochemical level, VPA-exposed rats displayed altered phosphorylation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors in different brain areas, associated with changes in anandamide metabolism from infancy to adulthood. Interestingly, enhancing anandamide signaling through inhibition of its degradation rescued the behavioral deficits displayed by VPA-exposed rats at infancy, adolescence and adulthood. This study therefore shows that abnormalities in anandamide activity may underlie the deleterious impact of environmental risk factors on ASD-relevant behaviors and that the endocannabinoid system may represent a therapeutic target for the core and associated symptoms displayed by autistic patients.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.