Haar Shlomi, Berman Sigal, Behrmann Marlene, Dinstein Ilan
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
Cereb Cortex. 2016 Apr;26(4):1440-52. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu242. Epub 2014 Oct 14.
Substantial controversy exists regarding the presence and significance of anatomical abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The release of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (∼1000 participants, age 6-65 years) offers an unprecedented opportunity to conduct large-scale comparisons of anatomical MRI scans across groups and to resolve many of the outstanding questions. Comprehensive univariate analyses using volumetric, thickness, and surface area measures of over 180 anatomically defined brain areas, revealed significantly larger ventricular volumes, smaller corpus callosum volume (central segment only), and several cortical areas with increased thickness in the ASD group. Previously reported anatomical abnormalities in ASD including larger intracranial volumes, smaller cerebellar volumes, and larger amygdala volumes were not substantiated by the current study. In addition, multivariate classification analyses yielded modest decoding accuracies of individuals' group identity (<60%), suggesting that the examined anatomical measures are of limited diagnostic utility for ASD. While anatomical abnormalities may be present in distinct subgroups of ASD individuals, the current findings show that many previously reported anatomical measures are likely to be of low clinical and scientific significance for understanding ASD neuropathology as a whole in individuals 6-35 years old.
关于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中解剖学异常的存在及其意义，存在着大量争议。自闭症脑成像数据交换项目（约1000名参与者，年龄在6至65岁之间）的发布，为跨组进行解剖学MRI扫描的大规模比较以及解决许多悬而未决的问题提供了前所未有的机会。使用超过180个解剖学定义脑区的体积、厚度和表面积测量值进行的全面单变量分析显示，ASD组的脑室体积显著增大，胼胝体体积（仅中央段）减小，以及几个皮质区域厚度增加。当前研究并未证实先前报道的ASD解剖学异常，包括较大的颅内体积、较小的小脑体积和较大的杏仁核体积。此外，多变量分类分析得出个体组身份的解码准确率适中（<60%），这表明所检查的解剖学测量值对ASD的诊断效用有限。虽然解剖学异常可能存在于ASD个体的不同亚组中，但当前研究结果表明，许多先前报道的解剖学测量值对于理解6至35岁个体的整体ASD神经病理学可能具有较低的临床和科学意义。
