The Effect of an Erythropoietin Derivative on Autism-Related Behaviors in Model Mice — 84p — Noah D. Everson*¹, Zachary D. Stanz*¹, Patrick J.Vogel*¹, Riggins Bundy*², Sara Alhasnawi², Monica Sathyanesan^3,4, Samuel S. Newton^3,4, Alexander D. Kloth¹

¹Department of Biology, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; ²Medical Student Research Program, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota; ³Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota; ⁴Sioux Falls Veterans Affairs Health Care, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction, alongside restrictive and repetitive behaviors. ASD affects 1 in 36 children in the United States and is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. While therapy can be used to treat ASD, there are no known pharmacological treatments that rescue social deficits in ASD patients. Erythropoietin (EPO) is of interest as a potential treatment for ASD due to its neurogenic, neurotrophic, and neuroplastic effects. However, EPO has unfavorable hematopoietic effects at high doses, limiting its use to only those with anemia. Therefore, we examined QPO, a non-hematopoietic derivative of EPO, as a prospective treatment for ASD in prepubescent mouse models. We used BALB/c mice (BALB), a low sociability model of ASD, and a neurotypical control model C57BL6/J (C57) to evaluate the effects of QPO (50 ug/mg) over a three week treatment period. The mice were divided into QPO and vehicle groups, receiving 11 injections, every other day for 22 days. Sixteen mice were used overall in this study per cohort, with eight mice from each sex. Three chamber, open field, elevated plus, and forced swim behavioral tests were performed to evaluate sociability, anxiety, and depression in treatment and vehicle groups. Present data shows a trend towards sociability in the BALB/c treatment group to the level of the C57 group in the three-chamber task, along with some changes in anxiety-related behavior. Based on our findings, QPO has the potential to rescue traits of autism and is emerging as a prospective treatment.

Augustana University
Dr. Alexander Kloth