vasoactive-intestinal-peptide and Fragile-X-Syndrome

Attention deficit is one of the most prominent and disabling symptoms in Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli contributes to attention difficulties by overwhelming and/or distracting affected individuals, which disrupts activities of daily living at home and learning at school. We find that auditory or visual distractors selectively impair visual discrimination performance in humans and mice with FXS but not in typically developing controls. In both species, males and females were examined. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) neurons were significantly modulated by incorrect responses in the poststimulus period during early distractor trials in WT mice, consistent with their known role as error signals. Strikingly, however, VIP cells from

Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein; Fragile X Syndrome; Humans; Interneurons; Male; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide