Why Should My Mouse Call Me? Acoustic Communication in Mouse Models of Social Disorders: Ultrasonic Vocalizations as an Index of Emotional and Motivational States

International audienceMice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in various interaction contexts in adulthood and infancy. One of the essential current questions about mouse USVs is to understand their precise biological significance and roles during social behaviors. Multiple data demonstrate that mouse USVs might be emitted during positive or negative animal states with specific acoustic features, suggesting a role as biomarkers of the animal emotional state. Other experiments demonstrated that male mouse dyads and female mouse dyads essentially vocalize only during contacts. These results advocate for a role of USVs as a vehicle conveying information within a social communication system. USVs could serve as signals indicating a particular emotional state of the sender to the individuals in the vicinity. We review in this chapter how USV studies help in better characterization and validation of mouse models in various pathological conditions with emotional state and social cognition alterations. We will confront data from several models of psychiatric disorders involving social deficits, namely autism, schizophrenia, and stress-related disorders