Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan.
PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e20021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020021. Epub 2011 May 27.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviours. The severity of these characteristics is posited to lie on a continuum that extends into the general population. Brain substrates underlying ASD have been investigated through functional neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, fMRI has methodological constraints for studying brain mechanisms during social interactions (for example, noise, lying on a gantry during the procedure, etc.). In this study, we investigated whether variations in autism spectrum traits are associated with changes in patterns of brain activation in typically developed adults. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a recently developed functional neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light, to monitor brain activation in a natural setting that is suitable for studying brain functions during social interactions.
We monitored regional cerebral blood volume changes using a 52-channel NIRS apparatus over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal sulcus (STS), 2 areas implicated in social cognition and the pathology of ASD, in 28 typically developed participants (14 male and 14 female) during face-to-face conversations. This task was designed to resemble a realistic social situation. We examined the correlations of these changes with autistic traits assessed using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ).
Both the PFC and STS were significantly activated during face-to-face conversations. AQ scores were negatively correlated with regional cerebral blood volume increases in the left STS during face-to-face conversations, especially in males.
Our results demonstrate successful monitoring of brain function during realistic social interactions by NIRS as well as lesser brain activation in the left STS during face-to-face conversations in typically developed participants with higher levels of autistic traits.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征是社交互动和沟通受损、兴趣受限和重复行为。这些特征的严重程度被认为存在于一个连续体中，延伸到普通人群中。使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的功能神经影像学研究已经研究了 ASD 的大脑基质。然而，fMRI 在研究社交互动期间的大脑机制方面存在方法学限制（例如，噪音、在龙门架上进行程序时等）。在这项研究中，我们研究了自闭症谱系特征的变化是否与典型发育成人大脑激活模式的变化有关。我们使用近红外光谱（NIRS），一种最近开发的功能神经影像学技术，使用近红外光来监测前额叶皮层（PFC）和颞上沟（STS）的大脑激活，这两个区域与社交认知和 ASD 的病理学有关，在 28 名典型发育的参与者（14 名男性和 14 名女性）进行面对面交谈时。这项任务旨在模拟真实的社交情境。我们检查了这些变化与使用自闭症特质问卷（AQ）评估的自闭症特质之间的相关性。
在面对面交谈期间，PFC 和 STS 都被显著激活。AQ 评分与面对面交谈期间左 STS 区域脑血流增加呈负相关，尤其是在男性中。
我们的结果表明，NIRS 可以成功监测真实社交互动期间的大脑功能，以及在具有较高自闭症特质的典型发育参与者中，在面对面交谈期间左 STS 的大脑激活减少。
