FIGURE 2.

Autism-related behaviors in Shank3-transgenic mice. Social interest of Shank3(+/–) and Shank3(–/–) compared to wildtype was assessed in the direct social dyadic test, in which the testing animal was able to directly interact with a sex-and age-matched stranger conspecific. (A,B) Shows whether the first contact in the direct social dyadic test was initiated by the testing mouse or the stranger mouse. (C,D) The time the two animals spent in close proximity to each other in the direct social dyadic test are determined. Different behaviors (E–H) were recorded within a 10 min observation session (after 10 min of habituation to a new cage). (E,F) The time spent self-grooming and (G,H) the digging time (moving the cage bedding with front and/or hind paws) were analyzed. (I,J) In the nest building test, the amount of shredded cotton nestlet was determined. (K) Representative images of processed nestlets from a wildtype (left) and a Shank3(–/–) (right) mouse are displayed. All data are represented as means with SEM with 9–11 animals per group. Significance levels (p–values) are set to 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05*, p ≤ 0.01^**, p ≤ 0.001^***, p ≤ 0.0001^****) with 95% confidence interval. See Supplementary Table 3 for detailed statistical information.