Fig. 7: Vibrissa treatment produces minimal effects in a syndromic ASD model.

a The vibrissa treatment procedure of Fig. 2 was applied to wild-type (WT) and fragile X syndrome (FXS) model rats. b Genotype-dependent differences in interregional regression coefficients indicate hypoconnectivity in FXS animals between left and right S1BF (dashed box) as well as other somatosensory regions. c Maps of rsFC regression coefficients to S1BF seed regions before (top) and after (bottom) vibrissa inactivation in n = 5 FXS model animals. d Quantification of mean homotopic S1BF regression coefficients before (light blue) and after (light magenta) vibrissa treatment in five FXS animals (difference not significant with paired t test p = 0.28), compared with results from WT animals indicated by arrowheads at right (blue before, magenta after treatment). e Reduction in connectivity strengths between S1BF and brain regions associated with the DMN in FXS animals, with respect to WT. f Quantification of S1BF-DMN connectivity strengths before and after vibrissa treatment in n = 5 FXS animals (difference not significant with t test p = 0.48), again with respect to WT values indicated by color-coded arrowheads.