Overexpression of Homer1a in the basal and lateral amygdala impairs fear conditioning and induces an autism-like social impairment.

This study indicates that dysregulation of amygdala Homer1a might contribute to some autism-like symptoms induced by VPA exposure. These findings are interesting in part because Homer1a influences the functioning of Shank3, metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5), and Homer1, and these proteins have previously been associated with ASD, indicating that these differing models of ASD may have a similar molecular basis.