The critical role of vestibular graviception during cognitivo-motor development.

We report that mouse pups suffered from a delay in the acquisition of sensorimotor reflexes, spatial olfactory guidance, path integration, and ultrasonic communication, while maternal care remained normal. We demonstrate that development has a critical period dependent on the vestibular otolithic sensory perception of gravity, probably temporally between the somesthetic and visual critical periods. The symptoms expressed by the congenital otolithic-deficient mice are similar to validated mouse models of autism and highlight the significance of vestibular graviception in the pathophysiology of development.
PMID: 31220486 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Behavioural Brain Research - June 16, 2019 Category: Neurology Authors: Le Gall A, Hilber P, Chesneau C, Bulla J, Toulouse J, Machado ML, Philoxene B, Smith PF, Besnard S Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research