Endo Taro, Shioiri Toshiki, Kitamura Hideaki, Kimura Teruo, Endo Sumio, Masuzawa Naio, Someya Toshiyuki
Department of Psychiatry, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Niigata City, Niigata, Japan.
Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Nov 1;62(9):1030-7. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.015. Epub 2007 Jul 12.
Although several previous studies have been conducted, the neural basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is poorly understood. The objective of the present study was to determine whether individuals with ASD have altered brain chemical metabolites and whether such alterations are related to their autistic symptoms.
N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) and choline/Cr ratios in the right medial temporal lobe (MTL), medial prefrontal cortex, and cerebellar vermis were measured in 38 individuals with ASD (mean age = 12.9 years), including 12 with autism, 15 with Asperger's Disorder, and 11 with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and 16 matched healthy control subjects (mean age = 11.5 years) with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Autistic symptoms were assessed by the Childhood Autistic Rating Scale-Tokyo Version.
There was a significant group difference for NAA/Cr ratio in the right MTL between the autism, Asperger's Disorder, PDD-NOS, and control groups (p < .001), and the autism group had a significantly lower NAA/Cr ratio compared with the PDD-NOS (p < .001) and control (p < .001) groups. In the ASD group, there was a significant negative correlation between NAA/Cr ratio in the right MTL and their Childhood Autistic Rating Scale-Tokyo Version total scores (r = -.44, p = .01) and subscales of emotional response (r = -.38, p = .02) and listening response (r = -.54, p = .001).
The results of the present study suggest that subjects with ASD have abnormalities of neural integrity in the amygdala-hippocampus region that are related to their severity and social impairments.
尽管先前已开展了多项研究，但人们对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的神经基础仍知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定患有ASD的个体大脑化学代谢物是否发生改变，以及这种改变是否与其自闭症症状相关。
采用质子磁共振波谱法，测量了38名ASD个体（平均年龄=12.9岁）右侧内侧颞叶（MTL）、内侧前额叶皮质和小脑蚓部的N-乙酰天门冬氨酸（NAA）/肌酸（Cr）和胆碱/Cr比值，其中包括12名自闭症患者、15名阿斯伯格综合征患者和11名未另行分类的广泛性发育障碍（PDD-NOS）患者，以及16名匹配的健康对照受试者（平均年龄=11.5岁）。采用儿童自闭症评定量表-东京版评估自闭症症状。
自闭症、阿斯伯格综合征、PDD-NOS组与对照组之间右侧MTL的NAA/Cr比值存在显著的组间差异（p<.001），自闭症组的NAA/Cr比值显著低于PDD-NOS组（p<.001）和对照组（p<.001）。在ASD组中，右侧MTL的NAA/Cr比值与其儿童自闭症评定量表-东京版总分（r=-.44，p=.01）、情绪反应分量表（r=-.38，p=.02）和听力反应分量表（r=-.54，p=.001）之间存在显著负相关。
本研究结果表明，患有ASD的受试者杏仁核-海马区存在神经完整性异常，且与病情严重程度和社交障碍有关。
