LAB RAT: Mouse models of autism say almost nothing about autistic people

In the world of neuroscience research, the mouse reigns supreme: in the US alone, tens of millions of mice are studied as a proxy for the human brain in labs. 

They’re small, they breed quickly, and they’re relatively easy to genetically manipulate, making mice ubiquitous in biomedical science. When studying something fundamental to biology, like how individual cells work, the leap from mouse to human doesn’t feel egregious. 

But when mice are used to study distinctly human conditions like autism, the parallels start to break down.

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What went wrong with autism research? 

Let's start with lab mice.

Animal models of autism haven’t helped autistic people enough. So why do scientists still use them?

Vox

Mouse models of autism say almost nothing about autistic people | Vox

Animal models of autism haven’t helped autistic people enough. So why do scientists still use them?

by Celia Ford

Updated Oct 21, 2024, 9:50 AM PDT
LINK >> VOX Future Perfect

The history of autism research, briefly explained

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as defined by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), is usually characterized by communication challenges, trouble navigating social interactions, and a high sensitivity to change.

It’s also defined by how different the roughly 5.4 million people diagnosed with autism in the US are from each other. The wide umbrella of ASD includes people who live independently, have fulfilling careers and relationships, and can advocate for their own needs. It also includes people who don’t speak much (or at all), use a wheelchair, and may require full-time support from a caregiver for the entirety of their lives.

Biologically speaking, autism — like the brain in general — is still poorly understood. 

• In the 1950s and 1960s, medical professionals embraced the now-discredited “refrigerator mother” theory linking autism to cold, distant parenting, blaming mothers for their children’s condition. 
• Later, psychologist Bernie Rimland presented evidence that autism is rooted in biology. Then, former physician Andrew Wakefield published a paper in 1998 incorrectly linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, fueling the modern anti-vaccination movement.

Today, most researchers believe that autism is strongly influenced by genetics. 

However, when symptoms can include everything from difficulty reading social cues to seizures to constipation, it’s hard to figure out what genes might be causing what — after all, over several decades of work, scientists have compiled a list of 100 or so genes that might be linked to autism.

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Mouse models of autism say almost nothing about autistic people | Vox