Ewen Joshua B, Lakshmanan Balaji M, Pillai Ajay S, McAuliffe Danielle, Nettles Carrie, Hallett Mark, Crone Nathan E, Mostofsky Stewart H
Department of Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger InstituteBaltimore, MD, USA; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, MD, USA; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute Baltimore, MD, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2016 May 6;10:198. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00198. eCollection 2016.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to result in part from altered cortical excitatory-inhibitory balance; this pathophysiology may impact the generation of oscillations on electroencephalogram (EEG). We investigated premotor-parietal cortical physiology associated with praxis, which has strong theoretical and empirical associations with ASD symptomatology. Twenty five children with high-functioning ASD (HFA) and 33 controls performed a praxis task involving the pantomiming of tool use, while EEG was recorded. We assessed task-related modulation of signal power in alpha and beta frequency bands. Compared with controls, subjects with HFA showed 27% less left central (motor/premotor) beta (18-22 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD; p = 0.030), as well as 24% less left parietal alpha (7-13 Hz) ERD (p = 0.046). Within the HFA group, blunting of central ERD attenuation was associated with impairments in clinical measures of praxis imitation (r = -0.4; p = 0.04) and increased autism severity (r = 0.48; p = 0.016). The modulation of central beta activity is associated, among other things, with motor imagery, which may be necessary for imitation. Impaired imitation has been associated with core features of ASD. Altered modulation of oscillatory activity may be mechanistically involved in those aspects of motor network function that relate to the core symptoms of ASD.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）被认为部分是由皮质兴奋性-抑制性平衡改变所致；这种病理生理学可能会影响脑电图（EEG）上振荡的产生。我们研究了与动作运用相关的运动前区-顶叶皮质生理学，动作运用在理论和实证上都与ASD症状学有很强的关联。25名高功能自闭症（HFA）儿童和33名对照组儿童在进行涉及模仿使用工具的动作运用任务时，记录了脑电图。我们评估了α和β频段中与任务相关的信号功率调制。与对照组相比，HFA受试者左中央（运动/运动前区）β（18 - 22Hz）事件相关去同步化（ERD）减少了27%（p = 0.030），左顶叶α（7 - 13Hz）ERD减少了24%（p = 0.046）。在HFA组内，中央ERD衰减的减弱与动作运用模仿的临床测量受损相关（r = -0.4；p = 0.04），且与自闭症严重程度增加相关（r = 0.48；p = 0.016）。中央β活动的调制尤其与运动想象相关，而运动想象可能是模仿所必需的。模仿受损与ASD的核心特征相关。振荡活动调制的改变可能在机制上涉及运动网络功能中与ASD核心症状相关的那些方面。
