Perinatal Serotonin Affects Neuroanatomy and Produces Autism-Like Behaviors in Rats

Several lines of research point to the involvement of aberrant serotonin pathways in autism (e.g., hyperserotonemia and, as recently reported, the doubling of autism risk in children whose mothers took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs] during the first trimester [JW Psychiatry Aug 29 2011]).

To examine this issue further, researchers exposed rats prenatally and postnatally (postnatal days P1–7 or P8–P21) to citalopram in doses equivalent to human use. Unlike in humans, in whom central nervous system (CNS) development is largely completed by week 20 of gestation, CNS maturation in rats continues through the early postnatal period (≤P10). The researchers measured engagement in play and reaction to novel objects and tones in juven…