Takarae Y, Minshew N J, Luna B, Sweeney J A
University of Illinois at Chicago, 60612-7327, USA.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2004 Sep;75(9):1359-61. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2003.022491.
To investigate cerebellar function in autism by measuring visually guided saccades.
A visually guided saccade task was performed by 46 high-functioning individuals with autism with and without delayed language acquisition, and 104 age and IQ matched healthy individuals.
Individuals with autism had increased variability in saccade accuracy, and only those without delayed language development showed a mild saccadic hypometria. Neither autistic group showed a disturbance in peak saccade velocity or latency.
The observed saccadic abnormalities suggest a functional disturbance in the cerebellar vermis or its output through the fastigial nuclei, consistent with reported cerebellar histopathology in autism. The pattern of mild hypometria and variable saccade accuracy is consistent with chronic rather than acute effects of cerebellar vermis lesions reported in clinical and non-human primate studies, as might be expected in a neurodevelopmental disorder. The different patterns of oculomotor deficits in individuals with autism with and without delayed language development suggest that pathophysiology at the level of the cerebellum may differ depending on an individual's history of language development.
通过测量视觉引导的眼跳来研究自闭症患者的小脑功能。
46名有或无语言发育迟缓的高功能自闭症个体以及104名年龄和智商匹配的健康个体参与了视觉引导眼跳任务。
自闭症个体的眼跳准确性变异性增加，只有那些没有语言发育迟缓的个体表现出轻度的眼跳幅度减小。两组自闭症个体在眼跳峰值速度或潜伏期方面均未表现出紊乱。
观察到的眼跳异常表明小脑蚓部或其通过顶核的输出存在功能障碍，这与自闭症中报道的小脑组织病理学一致。轻度幅度减小和眼跳准确性变化的模式与临床和非人类灵长类动物研究中报道的小脑蚓部病变的慢性而非急性效应一致，这在神经发育障碍中是可以预期的。有和没有语言发育迟缓的自闭症个体的不同眼动缺陷模式表明，小脑水平的病理生理学可能因个体的语言发育史而异。
