Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Neuroimage. 2019 Apr 15;190:205-212. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.09.031. Epub 2017 Sep 18.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by atypical social communication and repetitive behaviors. In this study, we applied a multimodal approach to investigate brain structural connectivity, resting state activity, and surface area, as well as their associations with the core symptoms of ASD. Data from forty boys with ASD (mean age, 11.5 years; age range, 5.5-19.5) and forty boys with typical development (TD) (mean age, 12.3; age range, 5.8-19.7) were extracted from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange II (ABIDE II) for data analysis. We found significantly decreased structural connectivity, resting state brain activity, and surface area at the occipital cortex in boys with ASD compared to boys with TD. In addition, we found that resting state brain activity and surface area in the lateral occipital cortex was negatively correlated with communication scores in boys with ASD. Our results suggest that decreased structural connectivity and resting-state brain activity in the occipital cortex may impair the integration of verbal and non-verbal communication cues in boys with ASD, thereby impacting their social development.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种常见的神经发育障碍，其特征是社会沟通和重复行为异常。在这项研究中，我们应用多模态方法研究了脑结构连接、静息态活动和脑表面积，以及它们与 ASD 的核心症状之间的关联。我们从自闭症脑成像数据交换库 II（ABIDE II）中提取了 40 名 ASD 男孩（平均年龄 11.5 岁，年龄范围 5.5-19.5 岁）和 40 名具有典型发育的男孩（TD）（平均年龄 12.3 岁，年龄范围 5.8-19.7 岁）的数据进行分析。与具有 TD 的男孩相比，我们发现 ASD 男孩的枕叶皮层的结构连接、静息态脑活动和脑表面积显著减少。此外，我们发现 ASD 男孩的外侧枕叶皮层的静息态脑活动和脑表面积与沟通评分呈负相关。我们的研究结果表明，枕叶皮层的结构连接和静息态脑活动减少可能会损害 ASD 男孩言语和非言语沟通线索的整合，从而影响他们的社会发展。
