Cesarean section delivery is a risk factor of autism-related behaviors in mice.

Masatoshi Nagano
Fumihito Saitow
Shinpei Higo
Makoto Uzuki
Yasunori Mikahara
Toshio Akimoto
Hitoshi Ozawa
Katsuhiko Nishimori
Hidenori Suzuki

Cesarean section (C/S) is one way of delivering babies
 and is chosen when mothers or babies are facing problems or life-threatening conditions during pregnancy. Many meta-analyses have suggested an etiological relationship between C/S delivery and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However
 as a risk factor for ASDs
 C/S delivery has not yet been well studied. Because C/S deliveries have been increasing
 it is very important to investigate the causal association between C/S and ASDs. Here
 using three approaches
 we showed experimentally that C/S delivery induced ASD-like traits in offspring mice
 and that some of these changes were ameliorated by one-time oxytocin (OXT) treatment. Treatment with OXT receptor antagonists before natural delivery also induced ASD-related behaviors. Moreover
 wild-type mice born to OXT-KO dams showed similar changes. Thus
 insufficient OXT exposure from dams to offspring during delivery may be a trigger for ASD-related behaviors.

Scientific reports

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10.1038/s41598-021-88437-8

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88437-8
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33903690
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8076189