Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model

While the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unclear, some studies have shown that serotonin-mediated effects on the enteric nervous system (ENS) correlate with an ASD-like behavioral phenotype in mice. Introduced here is a mathematical model of interactions between gut serotonin and it...

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Main Author: Irina Kareva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-02-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2970
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author Irina Kareva
author_facet Irina Kareva
author_sort Irina Kareva
collection DOAJ
description While the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unclear, some studies have shown that serotonin-mediated effects on the enteric nervous system (ENS) correlate with an ASD-like behavioral phenotype in mice. Introduced here is a mathematical model of interactions between gut serotonin and its impact on the ENS. The model was used to identify three key factors that affect ENS size, namely, serotonin production, its clearance, and its ability to act as a growth factor for the ENS. The model was used to reproduce experimentally reported results from a mouse model by Margolis et al. (2016), which connected serotonin-mediated ENS hypoplasia to an ASD phenotype. The proposed mathematical model was used to scale the quantified relationship from mice to humans to show how the combination of these three factors can translate to a quantifiable metric that could potentially be correlated to the ASD spectrum. A detailed discussion of how ENS hypoplasia could mechanistically affect CNS activity concludes this paper.
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spelling doaj.art-3f062e82d99043b5a1f5e09a594447a32023-11-17T07:17:32ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-02-01135297010.3390/app13052970Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical ModelIrina Kareva0Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USAWhile the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unclear, some studies have shown that serotonin-mediated effects on the enteric nervous system (ENS) correlate with an ASD-like behavioral phenotype in mice. Introduced here is a mathematical model of interactions between gut serotonin and its impact on the ENS. The model was used to identify three key factors that affect ENS size, namely, serotonin production, its clearance, and its ability to act as a growth factor for the ENS. The model was used to reproduce experimentally reported results from a mouse model by Margolis et al. (2016), which connected serotonin-mediated ENS hypoplasia to an ASD phenotype. The proposed mathematical model was used to scale the quantified relationship from mice to humans to show how the combination of these three factors can translate to a quantifiable metric that could potentially be correlated to the ASD spectrum. A detailed discussion of how ENS hypoplasia could mechanistically affect CNS activity concludes this paper.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2970autism spectrum disorderenteric nervous systemserotoninhyperserotonemiamathematical modelvagus nerve
spellingShingle Irina Kareva
Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
Applied Sciences
autism spectrum disorder
enteric nervous system
serotonin
hyperserotonemia
mathematical model
vagus nerve
title Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
title_full Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
title_fullStr Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
title_full_unstemmed Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
title_short Serotonin Signaling in the Enteric Nervous System and Connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Translational Mathematical Model
title_sort serotonin signaling in the enteric nervous system and connection to autism spectrum disorder a translational mathematical model
topic autism spectrum disorder
enteric nervous system
serotonin
hyperserotonemia
mathematical model
vagus nerve
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2970
work_keys_str_mv AT irinakareva serotoninsignalingintheentericnervoussystemandconnectiontoautismspectrumdisorderatranslationalmathematicalmodel