The Cerebellum-Ventral Tegmental Area Microcircuit and Its Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Narrative Review

The cerebellum has long been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and emerging evidence suggests a significant contribution by reciprocal neural circuits between the cerebellum and ventral tegmental area (VTA) in symptom expression. This review provides a concise ove...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment 2024-01, Vol.20, p.2039-2048
Main Authors: Zhou, Peiling, Peng, Shiyu, Wen, Sizhe, Lan, Qinghui, Zhuang, Yingyin, Li, Xuyan, Shi, Mengliang, Zhang, Changzheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal models
Autism
autism spectrum disorder
Brain
Cerebellum
Communication
Functional morphology
Measurement techniques
neural circuit
Neural circuitry
Neural networks
Neurophysiology
Neurosciences
Review
Social interaction
ventral tegmental area
Ventral tegmentum
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Summary:The cerebellum has long been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and emerging evidence suggests a significant contribution by reciprocal neural circuits between the cerebellum and ventral tegmental area (VTA) in symptom expression. This review provides a concise overview of morphological and functional alterations in the cerebellum and VTA associated with ASD symptoms, primarily focusing on human studies while also integrating mechanistic insights from animal models. We propose that cerebello-VTA circuit dysfunctional is a major contributor to ASD symptoms and that these circuits are promising targets for drugs and therapeutic brain stimulation methods.
ISSN:1176-6328
1178-2021
1178-2021
DOI:10.2147/NDT.S485487