Behavioral and Brain Ultrastructural Changes Following Systemic Administration of Propionic Acid in Adolescent Male Rats. Further Development of a Rodent Model of Autism.

Short chain fatty acids, produced as gut microbiome metabolites but also present in diet, exert broad effects in host physiology. Propionic acid (PPA), along with butyrate and acetate, plays a growing role in health, but also in neurological conditions. Increased PPA exposure in humans, animal models and cell lines elicit diverse behavioral and biochemical changes consistent with organic acidurias, mitochondrial disorders and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). ASD is considered a disorder of synaptic dysfunction and cell signaling, but also neuroinflammatory and neurometabolic components. We examined behavior (Morris water and radial arm mazes) and the ultrastructure of the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (electron microscopy) following a single intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of PPA (175 mg/kg) in male adolescent rats. PPA treatment showed altered social and locomotor behavior without changes in learning and memory. Both transient and enduring ultrastructural alterations in synapses, astro- and microglia were detected in the CA1 hippocampal area. Electron microscopic analysis showed, PPA treatment significantly decreased total number of synaptic vesicles, presynaptic mitochondria and synapses with a symmetric active zone. Thus, brief systemic administration of this dietary and enteric short chain fatty acid produced behavioral and dynamic brain ultrastructural changes, providing further validation of the PPA model of ASD.