State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
Neuroscience. 2017 Dec 26;367:134-146. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.10.015. Epub 2017 Oct 22.
Extensive studies have indicated brain function connectivity abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is a lack of longitudinal or cross-sectional research focused on tracking age-related developmental trends of autistic children at an early stage of brain development or based on a relatively large sample. The present study examined brain network changes in a total of 186 children both with and without ASD from 3 to 11 years, an early and key development period when significant changes are expected. The study aimed to investigate possible abnormal connectivity patterns and topological properties of children with ASD from early childhood to late childhood by using resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) data. The main findings of the study were as follows: (1) From the connectivity analysis, several inter-regional synchronizations with reduction were identified in the younger and older ASD groups, and several intra-regional synchronization increases were observed in the older ASD group. (2) From the graph analysis, a reduced clustering coefficient and enhanced mean shortest path length in specific frequencies was observed in children with ASD. (3) Results suggested an age-related decrease of the mean shortest path length in the delta and theta bands in TD children, whereas atypical age-related alteration was observed in the ASD group. In addition, graph measures were correlated with ASD symptom severity in the alpha band. These results demonstrate that abnormal neural communication is already present at the early stages of brain development in autistic children and this may be involved in the behavioral deficits associated with ASD.
大量研究表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）存在大脑功能连接异常。然而，目前缺乏针对自闭症儿童早期大脑发育阶段或基于较大样本的追踪年龄相关发育趋势的纵向或横向研究。本研究共检查了 186 名 ASD 儿童和非 ASD 儿童的脑网络变化，这些儿童的年龄在 3 至 11 岁之间，这是大脑发育的早期和关键阶段，预计会发生重大变化。该研究旨在通过使用静息态脑电图（EEG）数据，研究自闭症儿童从幼儿期到儿童后期可能存在的异常连接模式和拓扑特性。该研究的主要发现如下：（1）从连接分析中发现，在年龄较小和较大的 ASD 组中，有几个区域间的同步性降低，在年龄较大的 ASD 组中，有几个区域内的同步性增加。（2）从图分析中发现，自闭症儿童在特定频率下的聚类系数降低和平均最短路径长度增加。（3）结果表明，TD 儿童的 delta 和 theta 频段的平均最短路径长度随年龄呈下降趋势，而 ASD 组则表现出异常的年龄相关变化。此外，在 alpha 频段，图测度与 ASD 症状严重程度相关。这些结果表明，自闭症儿童在大脑发育的早期阶段就存在异常的神经通讯，这可能与 ASD 相关的行为缺陷有关。
