Increase of cerebellar endocannabinoids receptors following music stimulation of rats with postnatally induced autism

The autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) comprises a complex of neural alterations of development that are expressed in a heterogeneous manner, highlighting constant features of neuroanatomic and functional abnormalities in the cerebellar structure. In this context, there is wide evidence that the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the regulation of neurotransmission and transduction of both excitatory and inhibitory signals in the cerebellum, which are affected in ASD. In humans with autism, therapeutic interventions with musical stimulation have given successful results to reestablish different behaviors characteristic of the disorder; however, at the neural level and specifically in the cerebellum studies are still limited. In this work, musical stimulation was implemented in an animal model of induced autism after birth. Wistar rats with induced autism were exposed to classical piano music by composer W.A. Mozart from day pI to p30 and the density of cannabinoid receptors I (CBI) in the cortex of the cerebellar flocculus was evaluated. Immunohistochemical analyzes in the cerebellar cortex revealed that subjects of both sexes who received musical stimulation presented higher density in CBI receptors. In male rats a higher density was found for the molecular and granular layers, whereas in females they were only detected in the granular layer. We concluded that music had an impact at the cellular signaling regulated by cannabinoids in rats with induced autism on the flocculus cerebellar cortex, where there were an increase on CBI receptors.