Advances in Zebrafish as a Comprehensive Model of Mental Disorders

Figure 7

PPA participates in the ASD mechanism route. Excessive PPA combined with preexistent dysbiosis in the diet may interfere with fetal neuronal differentiation in early pregnancy. Here, PPA binds to the GPR41 receptor preferentially expressed on glial progenitor cells and participates in the interference process. Furthermore, changes in downstream pathways including inhibition of PTEN and activation of the prosurvival AKT pathway ultimately lead to the proliferation and differentiation of glial progenitor cells. Here, mature glial cells produce inflammatory cytokines (such as GFAP, TNF-α, and IL-10), and large amounts of gliosis promote neuroinflammation, leading to ASD. Reproduced with permission from [276].