{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T07:53:52Z","timestamp":1776671632773,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773187200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776643200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":40,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010446","name":"Institute for Basic Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["IBS-R001-D2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IBS-R001-D2"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010446","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Mol Brain"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Williams\u2013Beuren Syndrome (WBS), a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a heterozygous microdeletion at chromosome 7q11.23, is characterized by hypersociability and enhanced affective empathy. However, the specific genetic and neural mechanisms within the WBS locus underlying this elevated empathic response remain unknown. Here, we investigated empathy-related behaviors, including observational fear and allogrooming, in WBS mouse models harboring a deletion within the conserved syntenic region on mouse chromosome 5. We demonstrate that WBS mice exhibited emotional contagion and prosocial consolation behaviors comparable to their wild-type controls. Furthermore, WBS mice with single-gene deletions of the cortex-enriched genes\n                    <jats:italic>Abhd11<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Limk1<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Mlxipl<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Stx1a<\/jats:italic>\n                    also showed unaffected empathic freezing behavior. Collectively, our findings suggest that the enhanced empathic responsiveness reported in individuals with WBS may be influenced by reduced social inhibition toward others, while acknowledging that limitations of current rodent behavioral assays preclude definitive conclusions regarding primary neural mechanisms of empathy.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13041-026-01278-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T17:35:51Z","timestamp":1773250551000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Unaltered empathy-related behaviors in Williams\u2013Beuren syndrome mouse models"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Dahm","family":"So","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hye Lim","family":"Cha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sua","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sowon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eunsu","family":"Yoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sehoon","family":"Keum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"1278_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1177\/1754073910374662","volume":"3","author":"J Decety","year":"2011","unstructured":"Decety J. Dissecting the neural mechanisms mediating empathy. Emot Rev. 2011;3(1):92\u2013108.","journal-title":"Emot Rev"},{"issue":"3","key":"1278_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"414","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conb.2012.12.006","volume":"23","author":"A Jarvinen","year":"2013","unstructured":"Jarvinen A, Korenberg JR, Bellugi U. The social phenotype of Williams syndrome. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013;23(3):414\u201322.","journal-title":"Curr Opin Neurobiol"},{"issue":"5","key":"1278_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"380","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn1906","volume":"7","author":"A Meyer-Lindenberg","year":"2006","unstructured":"Meyer-Lindenberg A, Mervis CB, Berman KF. Neural mechanisms in Williams syndrome: a unique window to genetic influences on cognition and behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006;7(5):380\u201393.","journal-title":"Nat Rev Neurosci"},{"issue":"1","key":"1278_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2019.09.013","volume":"104","author":"S Keum","year":"2019","unstructured":"Keum S, Shin HS. Neural basis of observational fear learning: a potential model of affective empathy. Neuron. 2019;104(1):78\u201386.","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"issue":"1","key":"1278_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.1002\/emmm.200900003","volume":"1","author":"HH Li","year":"2009","unstructured":"Li HH, Roy M, Kuscuoglu U, Spencer CM, Halm B, Harrison KC, et al. Induced chromosome deletions cause hypersociability and other features of Williams\u2013Beuren syndrome in mice. EMBO Mol Med. 2009;1(1):50\u201365.","journal-title":"EMBO Mol Med"},{"issue":"2","key":"1278_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1002\/ajmg.c.30257","volume":"154C","author":"LR Osborne","year":"2010","unstructured":"Osborne LR. Animal models of Williams syndrome. Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet. 2010;154C(2):209\u201319.","journal-title":"Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet"},{"issue":"4","key":"1278_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1088","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2018.09.014","volume":"175","author":"ATN Tebbenkamp","year":"2018","unstructured":"Tebbenkamp ATN, Varela L, Choi J, Paredes MI, Giani AM, Song JE, et al. The 7q11.23 protein DNAJC30 interacts with ATP synthase and links mitochondria to brain development. Cell. 2018;175(4):1088\u2013104.","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"5661","key":"1278_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1157","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1093535","volume":"303","author":"T Singer","year":"2004","unstructured":"Singer T, Seymour B, O\u2019Doherty J, Kaube H, Dolan RJ, Frith CD. Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science. 2004;303(5661):1157\u201362.","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"7884","key":"1278_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"262","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-021-03962-w","volume":"599","author":"YE Wu","year":"2021","unstructured":"Wu YE, Dang J, Kingsbury L, Zhang M, Sun F, Hu RK, et al. Neural control of affiliative touch in prosocial interaction. Nature. 2021;599(7884):262\u20137.","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"5","key":"1278_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"700","DOI":"10.1038\/s41593-019-0380-9","volume":"22","author":"B Barak","year":"2019","unstructured":"Barak B, Zhang Z, Liu Y, Nir A, Trangle SS, Ennis M, et al. Neuronal deletion of Gtf2i, associated with Williams syndrome, causes behavioral and myelin alterations rescuable by a remyelinating drug. Nat Neurosci. 2019;22(5):700\u20138.","journal-title":"Nat Neurosci"},{"issue":"1","key":"1278_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/S0896-6273(02)00758-4","volume":"35","author":"Y Meng","year":"2002","unstructured":"Meng Y, Zhang Y, Tregoubov V, Janus C, Cruz L, Jackson M, et al. Abnormal spine morphology and enhanced LTP in LIMK-1 knockout mice. 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