孤独症模型大鼠脑内信号蛋白β-catenin和GSK-3β的表达变化

In order to understand the role of the Wnt signal pathway in the etiology of the autism, the present study examined the expression of two signaling proteins, β-catenin and GSK-3β which take the key position in Wnt pathway, in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum of an autism model of rat with different ages by means of the western blot technique. The results showed that the expression of the β-catenin was up-regulated, while the expression of the GSK-3β was decreased severely in the brain regions mentioned above in autism animal model. These results indicated that the Wnt signal pathway is over activated in the autism models, and this activation might be the one of the causes of abnormal development of neurons in the brain of autism. Therefore, the present results suggested that Wnt signal pathway plays an important role in the etiology of the autism.