Study record
Therapeutic Effects of MOTS-c in the Valproic Acid-Induced Autism Model in Rats: Role of Tetrahydrobiopterin and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Güvenir Seven S, Sahin H, Erkanlı Şentürk G et al. · Mol Neurobiol · 2026
What this study reported
Reported that valproic acid exposure produced impaired sociability, repetitive behaviours, Purkinje cell loss and increased oxidative stress in rat offspring, and that administered MOTS-c reversed these changes except anxiety and neocortical damage. No significant changes in plasma tetrahydrobiopterin or BDNF were detected in the rats.
Limitations
Single rodent model of autism with group sizes not reported in the abstract; the proposed mediators were unchanged, so the mechanism was not established; behavioural scoring blinding not described.
Study record
| Study model | Animal study (in vivo) |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | MOTS-c administeredSynthetic MOTS-c was given to cells, animals or people. |
| Species | rat |
| System studied | Valproic acid-induced rat model of autism; male and female Sprague-Dawley offspring |
| Population | Not reported |
| Design | Controlled animal experiment |
| Sample size as reported | not reported |
| Control group | saline-treated valproic acid-exposed and saline-exposed offspring |
| Route (data field only) | intraperitoneal |
| Endpoints measured | sociability and repetitive behaviour; anxiety behaviour; cerebellar Purkinje cell counts; oxidative stress markers; plasma tetrahydrobiopterin and BDNF |
| Pathways measured | AMPK signalling · Oxidative stress |
| Research areas | Nervous system · Mitochondrial biology |
| Evidence tier | C — Animal in vivo |
| Publication types | Journal Article |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Direct
- Model applicability
- Mammalian
- Sample size
- Not reported
- Controls
- Appropriate
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.