Herbert Martha R, Harris Gordon J, Adrien Kristen T, Ziegler David A, Makris Nikos, Kennedy Dave N, Lange Nicholas T, Chabris Chris F, Bakardjiev Anna, Hodgson James, Takeoka Masanori, Tager-Flusberg Helen, Caviness Verne S
Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, CNY-149, Room 6012, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Ann Neurol. 2002 Nov;52(5):588-96. doi: 10.1002/ana.10349.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting cognitive, language, and social functioning. Although language and social communication abnormalities are characteristic, prior structural imaging studies have not examined language-related cortex in autistic and control subjects. Subjects included 16 boys with autism (aged 7-11 years), with nonverbal IQ greater than 80, and 15 age- and handedness-matched controls. Magnetic resonance brain images were segmented into gray and white matter; cerebral cortex was parcellated into 48 gyral-based divisions per hemisphere. Asymmetry was assessed a priori in language-related inferior lateral frontal and posterior superior temporal regions and assessed post hoc in all regions to determine specificity of asymmetry abnormalities. Boys with autism had significant asymmetry reversal in frontal language-related cortex: 27% larger on the right in autism and 17% larger on the left in controls. Only one additional region had significant asymmetry differences on post hoc analysis: posterior temporal fusiform gyrus (more left-sided in autism), whereas adjacent fusiform gyrus and temporooccipital inferior temporal gyrus both approached significance (more right-sided in autism). These inferior temporal regions are involved in visual face processing. In boys with autism, language and social/face processing-related regions displayed abnormal asymmetry. These structural abnormalities may relate to language and social disturbances observed in autism.
自闭症是一种影响认知、语言和社交功能的神经发育障碍。尽管语言和社交沟通异常是其特征，但先前的结构成像研究尚未对自闭症患者和对照受试者的语言相关皮层进行检查。受试者包括16名患有自闭症的男孩（年龄在7至11岁之间），其非言语智商大于80，以及15名年龄和利手匹配的对照者。磁共振脑图像被分割为灰质和白质；大脑皮层被划分为每个半球48个基于脑回的分区。在与语言相关的额下回和颞上回后区预先评估不对称性，并在所有区域进行事后评估，以确定不对称异常的特异性。患有自闭症的男孩在与语言相关的额叶皮层存在明显的不对称反转：自闭症患者右侧比左侧大27%，而对照组左侧比右侧大17%。在事后分析中，只有一个额外的区域存在明显的不对称差异：颞叶梭状回后部（自闭症患者中更偏向左侧），而相邻的梭状回和颞枕颞下回均接近显著水平（自闭症患者中更偏向右侧）。这些颞下区域参与视觉面部处理。在患有自闭症的男孩中，与语言和社交/面部处理相关的区域显示出异常的不对称性。这些结构异常可能与自闭症中观察到的语言和社交障碍有关。
