Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy,
J Autism Dev Disord. 2014 Apr;44(4):873-82. doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1939-z.
Recent years have seen an increase in the use of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) evaluation as an easy-to-use, reproducible, proxy-measure of brain structural abnormalities. Here, we evaluated RNFL thickness in a group of subjects with high functioning autism (HFA) or with Asperger Syndrome (AS) to its potential as a tool to study autism pathophysiology. All subjects underwent high-resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography to evaluate RNFL thickness. HFA subjects presented with reduced global RNFL thickness compared both to AS subjects and controls. AS subjects showed a reduced nasal quadrant RNFL thickness compared to controls. Verbal-IQ/performance-IQ discrepancy correlated with RNFL thickness. Our data suggest that RNFL evaluation could help in the development of biological markers of autism pathophysiology.
近年来，视网膜神经纤维层（RNFL）评估作为一种易于使用、可重复的脑结构异常替代测量方法的应用日益增多。在这里，我们评估了一组高功能自闭症（HFA）或阿斯伯格综合征（AS）患者的 RNFL 厚度，以研究其作为自闭症病理生理学研究工具的潜力。所有受试者均接受高分辨率谱域光学相干断层扫描以评估 RNFL 厚度。与 AS 受试者和对照组相比，HFA 受试者的全视网膜神经纤维层厚度降低。与对照组相比，AS 受试者的鼻象限 RNFL 厚度降低。言语智商/操作智商差异与 RNFL 厚度相关。我们的数据表明，RNFL 评估可能有助于开发自闭症病理生理学的生物标志物。
