P12 | NEUROBIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF CITRUS BERGAMIA IN THE IDIOPHATIC AUTISM MODEL BTBR

D. Minervini¹, I. Olivito¹, A. Vivacqua^2|3, L. Bartella^4|5, L. Di Donna^4|5, R. Alò¹, R.M. Facciolo¹ | ¹Comparative Neuroanatomy Lab; Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences Dept., University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy; ²Dept. of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy; ³Centro Sanitario, University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy; ⁴QUASIORA Lab., AGRINFRA Research Net, University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy; ⁵Chimica and Tecnologie Chimiche Dept., University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in communication skills, social interaction and stereotyped behaviors, along with immune dysregulation, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress1. Recently, a Citrus bergamia extract (BPE), featured by high concentrations of flavonoids, has been shown to possess antioxidant and neuroprotective properties2,3. On this basis, PBE was used to evaluate its efficacy in some neurobiological activities of a murine model of ASD, the BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J (BTBR) as compared with the control C57BL6J mice. Both strains were fed a standard chow diet (CD, 2019 Teklad Global Diet, 9% fat, 19% protein, 44.9% carbohydrate; Envigo RMS, Udine, Italy) ± BPE (100 mg/kg4; Quasiora Laboratory, University of Calabria) for four weeks. As expected, BPE significantly improved ASD-related symptoms in BTBR mice by reducing repetitive behavior (p<0.001), as well as increasing memory (p<0.001) and social interaction (p<0.01). At the metabolic level, BPE induced a reduction in the plasmatic level of total cholesterol (p<0.001). Interestingly, such parameters were linked to a restoration of thickness in the hippocampal subregions (CA1, CA2, CA3, dentate gyrus) and an increase in the cerebral cortical thickness. Overall, these data suggest potential mitigating effects of BPE in ASD. However, further studies are needed to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms and to establish whether BPF could be useful for reducing drug dosages, thus limiting the onset of side effects, which may represent a major limitation in traditional medicines.