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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.08.08.607129

Disrupted stimulus encoding shapes tactile perception in autism.

Semelidou, O.·Gauvrit, T.·Vandromme, C.·Cornier, A.·Saint-Jean, A.·Le Feuvre, Y.·Ginger, M.·Frick, A.
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Abstract

Touch is essential for interacting with the world, and atypical tactile experience is a core feature of autism that profoundly affects daily life. However, we do not know the neural mechanisms of low-level tactile perception and their alterations in autism. Using a translational perceptual task, we recapitulate the multifaceted tactile features of autistic individuals in the Fmr1-/y mouse model of autism, showing tactile hyposensitivity, interindividual variability, and unreliable responses. We reveal that impaired detection decoding in Fmr1-/y-hyposensitive mice stems from diminished single-neuron signal-to-noise ratio in the primary somatosensory cortex that leads to weak population encoding of the tactile stimulus and its detection. This manifests as reduced stimulus-dependent neural recruitment, impaired response precision, and disrupted ensemble dynamics. Decreasing neuronal hyperexcitability strengthens sensory encoding and improves tactile perception. This work provides a translational framework for probing neuronal-perceptual changes in neurodevelopmental conditions, reveals inter-individual variability in preclinical models, and uncovers the neural basis of tactile hyposensitivity in autism.

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Semelidou, O., Gauvrit, T., Vandromme, C., Cornier, A., Saint-Jean, A., Le Feuvre, Y., Ginger, M., Frick, A.. 2024-08-09. Disrupted stimulus encoding shapes tactile perception in autism.. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.08.607129

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