School of Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Neuroimage. 2010 Jul 1;51(3):1117-25. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.01.083. Epub 2010 Feb 2.
The arcuate fasciculus is a white matter fiber bundle of great importance in language. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to infer white matter integrity in the arcuate fasciculi of a group of subjects with high-functioning autism and a control group matched for age, handedness, IQ, and head size. The arcuate fasciculus for each subject was automatically extracted from the imaging data using a new volumetric DTI segmentation algorithm. The results showed a significant increase in mean diffusivity (MD) in the autism group, due mostly to an increase in the radial diffusivity (RD). A test of the lateralization of DTI measurements showed that both MD and fractional anisotropy (FA) were less lateralized in the autism group. These results suggest that white matter microstructure in the arcuate fasciculus is affected in autism and that the language specialization apparent in the left arcuate of healthy subjects is not as evident in autism, which may be related to poorer language functioning.
弓状束是白质纤维束中非常重要的语言。在这项研究中，弥散张量成像（DTI）用于推断一组高功能自闭症患者和一组年龄、利手、智商和头围相匹配的对照组的弓状束的白质完整性。使用新的容积式 DTI 分割算法，从成像数据中自动提取每个对象的弓状束。结果表明，自闭症组的平均弥散度（MD）显著增加，主要是由于径向弥散度（RD）的增加。对 DTI 测量的侧化测试表明，自闭症组的 MD 和各向异性分数（FA）的侧化程度均较低。这些结果表明，自闭症患者的弓状束白质微观结构受到影响，而健康受试者左弓状束中明显的语言特异性在自闭症中并不明显，这可能与较差的语言功能有关。
