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Neurons in a mouse model of autism consistently fire in response to whisker agitation.

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Two-photon calcium imaging demonstrates neurons firing in the cortex of a mouse brain. PORTERA-CAILIAU LAB/UCLAIn a mouse strain designed to model symptoms of autism, neurons don’t attenuate their firing following repeated whisker agitation. In normal mice, however, this neuronal activity eventually quiets down.

See C. X. He et al., “Tactile defensiveness and impaired adaptation of neuronal activity in the Fmr1 knockout mouse model of autism,” The Journal of Neuroscience, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0651-17.2017, 2017.

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