Oxytocin Administration is Inconsistent in Correcting the Maternal and Repetitive Behaviors of the C58/J Mouse Strain

BSC-Ursa Minor 36

The C58/J mouse strain exhibits similar repetitive behaviors and social limitations experienced by individuals with autism. This study aimed to determine whether oxytocin administration would relieve some of these repetitive behaviors as well as correct the poor maternal behaviors of the strain. This was done in an attempt to develop a model with which to test oxytocin’s effect on the C58/J mice. This model could potentially be used in the future to test novel therapeutics targeting the oxytocin system. The mice received intraperitoneal oxytocin or saline injections and were observed with their pups to score for repetitive and maternal behaviors. The pups were scattered around the cage and the mother was given five minutes to return them to her nest. The data indicated that there were few statistical differences in both maternal and repetitive behaviors during this testing period. It may be possible that while oxytocin has a limited effect on individual mice to relieve certain behaviors, it does not affect each mouse equally, leading to highly variable data. As a result, this model would be unreliable for testing the oxytocin system in the C58/J mouse strain.