Center for Autism Research and Treatment, University of California, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, 760 Westwood Plaza, Suite A7-448, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States of America; Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TP, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TP, UK.
Neuropsychologia. 2018 Mar;111:369-376. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.02.018. Epub 2018 Feb 16.
Circuit level brain dysfunction has been suggested as a common mechanism through which diverse genetic risk factors and neurobiological sequelae lead to the core features of autism spectrum disorder (Geschwind 2009; Port et al. 2014). An important mediator of circuit level brain activity is lateral inhibition, and a number of authors have suggested that lateral inhibition may be atypical in ASD. However, evidence regarding putative atypical lateral connections in ASD is mixed. Here we employed a steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm to further investigate lateral connections within a group of high functioning adults with ASD. At a group level, we found no evidence of altered lateral interactions in ASD. Exploratory analyses reveal that greater ASD symptom severity (increased ADOS score) is associated with increased short range lateral inhibition. These results suggest that lateral interactions are not altered in ASD at a group-level, but that subtle alterations in such neurobiological processes may underlie the heterogeneity seen in the autism spectrum in terms of sensory perception and behavioral phenotype.
已有研究表明，大脑回路功能障碍是多种遗传风险因素和神经生物学后果导致自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）核心特征的共同机制（Geschwind 2009；Port 等人，2014）。回路水平脑活动的一个重要介质是侧抑制，一些作者提出侧抑制在 ASD 中可能是异常的。然而，关于 ASD 中假定的异常侧连接的证据是混杂的。在这里，我们使用稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEP）范式进一步研究了一组高功能 ASD 成人中的侧连接。在组水平上，我们没有发现 ASD 中存在改变的侧相互作用的证据。探索性分析表明，ASD 症状严重程度（增加的 ADOS 评分）与短程侧抑制增加有关。这些结果表明，在组水平上，ASD 中的侧相互作用没有改变，但是这种神经生物学过程的细微改变可能是自闭症谱系中在感觉知觉和行为表型方面存在异质性的基础。
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