Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It is characterized by impaired social communication， abnormal social interactions， and repetitive behaviors and/or restricted interests. BTBR T + tf/J (BTBR) inbred mice are commonly used as a model for ASD. Resveratrol is used widely as a beneficial therapeutic in the treatment of an extensive array of pathologies， including neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study， the effect of resveratrol administration (20 and 40 mg/kg) was evaluated in both BTBR and C57BL/6 (B6) mice. Behavioral (self-grooming)， Foxp3， T-bet， GATA-3， RORγt， and IL-17A in CD4 T cells were assessed. Our study showed that BTBR control mice exhibit... More
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It is characterized by impaired social communication， abnormal social interactions， and repetitive behaviors and/or restricted interests. BTBR T + tf/J (BTBR) inbred mice are commonly used as a model for ASD. Resveratrol is used widely as a beneficial therapeutic in the treatment of an extensive array of pathologies， including neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study， the effect of resveratrol administration (20 and 40 mg/kg) was evaluated in both BTBR and C57BL/6 (B6) mice. Behavioral (self-grooming)， Foxp3， T-bet， GATA-3， RORγt， and IL-17A in CD4 T cells were assessed. Our study showed that BTBR control mice exhibited a distinct immune profile from that of the B6 control mice. BTBR mice were characterized by lower levels of Foxp3 and higher levels of RORγt， T-bet， and GATA-3 production in CD4 T cells when compared with B6 control. Resveratrol (20 and 40 mg/kg) treatment to B6 and BTBR mice showed substantial induction of Foxp3 and reduction of T-bet， GATA-3， and IL-17A expression in CD4 cells when compared with the respective control groups. Moreover， resveratrol treatment resulted in upregulated expression of Foxp3 mRNA and decreased expression levels of T-bet， GATA-3， RORγt， and IL-17A in the spleen and brain tissues. Western blot analysis confirmed that resveratrol treatment decreased the protein expression of T-bet， GATA-3， RORγ， and IL-17 and that it increased Foxp3 in B6 and BTBR mice. Our results suggest that autism is associated with dysregulation of transcription factor signaling that can be corrected by resveratrol treatment.
