Kulesza Randy J, Mangunay Kathleen
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Auditory Research Center, Erie, PA 16509, USA.
Brain Res. 2008 Mar 20;1200:132-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.01.009. Epub 2008 Jan 14.
Autism is a psychosocial disorder clinically characterized by social difficulties, impairment in communication skills and repetitive behavioral patterns. Despite the increasing reported incidence of autism, the neurobiology of this disorder is poorly understood. However, researchers have uncovered numerous structural anomalies in the brainstem, cerebellum and forebrain of autistic individuals and there is substantial support for the association of hearing deficits with autism. In an effort to discover an anatomical correlate for the functional auditory deficits found in autism, we examined the SOC, a group of brainstem nuclei that function in sound source localization, in post-mortem brain tissue from autistic individuals. The neurons of the medial superior olive (MSO), an SOC nucleus, display a precise geometric organization essential for detection of timing differences between the two ears. We examined the architecture of the MSO in five autistic brains (ages 8 to 32 years) and two age-matched controls (ages 26 and 29 years) and found a significant disruption in the morphology of MSO neurons in autistic brains, involving cell body shape and orientation. The results from this study provide evidence on the cellular level that may help to explain the hearing difficulties associated with autism.
自闭症是一种心理社会障碍，临床特征为社交困难、沟通技能受损以及重复行为模式。尽管报道的自闭症发病率不断上升，但对该障碍的神经生物学了解甚少。然而，研究人员已经在自闭症患者的脑干、小脑和前脑中发现了许多结构异常，并且有大量证据支持听力缺陷与自闭症之间的关联。为了找到自闭症中功能性听觉缺陷的解剖学相关因素，我们研究了上橄榄复合体（SOC），这是一组在声源定位中起作用的脑干核团，研究对象为自闭症患者的尸检脑组织。内侧上橄榄核（MSO）是SOC的一个核团，其神经元呈现出精确的几何组织，这对于检测双耳之间的时间差异至关重要。我们检查了5个自闭症患者大脑（年龄在8至32岁之间）和2个年龄匹配的对照者大脑（年龄分别为26岁和29岁）中MSO的结构，发现自闭症患者大脑中MSO神经元的形态存在显著破坏，涉及细胞体形状和方向。这项研究的结果在细胞水平上提供了证据，可能有助于解释与自闭症相关的听力困难。
