Back to FENS Forum 2026
ePoster

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: WHOLE-BRAIN CLEARING AND MULTICHANNEL IMAGING TO MAP SEX-DEPENDENT BRAIN CELL DIFFERENCES IN MOUSE MODELS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Moritz Negwerand 4 co-authors

Donders Center for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS07-10AM-208

Presentation

Date TBA

View poster
Board: PS07-10AM-208

Poster preview

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: WHOLE-BRAIN CLEARING AND MULTICHANNEL IMAGING TO MAP SEX-DEPENDENT BRAIN CELL DIFFERENCES IN MOUSE MODELS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER poster preview

Event Information

Poster Board

PS07-10AM-208

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been viewed as a strongly gendered with boys being diagnosed more often (3.5:1 boys:girls) and earlier (4 years vs 6 years) than girls. Whether this is due to sex-specific differences in patient presentation, diagnostic bias, or sex-specific neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities is currently unknown. We investigate the latter hypothesis and screen for sex-specific neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities in mouse models of ASD, using a four-way female/male/wildtype/mutant comparison across several mouse lines (Ehmt1 and Pten mutants for syndromic ASD, as well as BTBR mice for idiopathic ASD).
Speficially, we take an unbiased whole-brain screening approach, with multichannel staining based on the INSIHGT protocol. We label every single Parvalbumin-positive neuron, Iba1-positive microglia, and WFA-positive perineuronal net, along with a near-infrared nuclear counterstain. We then clear the brains and image them with a light-sheet microscope, and detect the labelled cells in four channels using the DELiVR pipeline, customized for every channel with training data generated in virtual reality (VR).
As a result, we get the precise coordinates of every labelled cells, as well as the general density of all cells via the nuclear counterstain. We present here our end-to-end pipeline, optimalization steps for a reproducible and scalable operation, as well as preliminary results from the first batches of brains. We are actively encouraging other groups that work with mouse models of ASD to collaborate and send us a cohort of their brains as well, so that we can get a broader view of 3D cytoarchitecture across as many mouse lines as possible.

Recommended posters

A PATIENT-DERIVED TBR1 MUTATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH SEX-DEPENDENT CHANGES IN VASCULAR MATURATION AND MYELINATION

Ghayda' Alhammadin, Shambhu Joshi, Garam Choi, Soo Young Kim

INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF CA1 PYRAMIDAL CELLS ARE SET BY SEX HORMONES IN ORGANOTYPIC HIPPOCAMPAL SLICES FROM MALE AND FEMALE MICE

Sam de Kater, Nael Nadif Kasri, Corette Wierenga

NEURONAL PLASTICITY IN THE HIPPOCAMPAL CA1 REGION ACROSS THE ESTROUS CYCLE IN THE C58/J MOUSE STRAIN WITH AN ASD-LIKE PHENOTYPE

Miriam Yesenia Cortés Sanchez, Isabel Barón Mendoza, Marisol de la Fuente Granada, Alejandro Ordaz Ramos, Mónica Martínez Marcial, Angélica Zepeda Rivera, Emilio Javier Galván Espinosa, Johaly del Carmen Anguiano Buenfil, Oscar González Flores, Benjamin Emmanuel Chávez Álvarez, Roberto Chavira Ramírez, Aliesha Araceli González Arenas

DIFFERENTIAL GENOTYPE-PHENOTYPE CORRELATION ACROSS SOCIAL AND SENSORY DOMAINS IN THE HETEROZYGOUS SHANK3B MOUSE MODEL OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Lorenzo Curti, Federica Polverini, Elena Montagni, Manuel Ambrosone, Valentina Scianaro, Elisabetta Gerace, Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro, Guido Mannioni, Alessio Masi

SEX‑SPECIFIC SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND AMYGDALA CIRCUIT ALTERATIONS IN POGZ+/- MICE

Reut Suliman-Lavie, Noa Montefiore, Sunny Yanai, Sagiv Shifman, Yosef Yarom

RATDISCO: A TISSUE CLEARING PIPELINE FOR DETECTING STIMULUS-ACTIVATED NEURONS IN RAT MODELS OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

Cristina Martinez Gonzalez, Kirsty J Craigie, Sally Till, Britt van de Gevel, Brianna Vandrey, Patrick Strangward, Dirk Sieger, Alfredo Gonzalez-Sulser, Nathalie Rochefort, Ian Duguid, Peter Kind

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the site. Analytics cookies are optional and help us improve World Wide. Learn more.