Centre d'Excellence en Troubles Envahissants du Développement de l'Université de Montréal, (CETEDUM), Montréal, Canada; Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France; Brain Dynamics and Cognition, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR 5292, Lyon, France & University Lyon 1, F-69000 Lyon, France.
Centre d'Excellence en Troubles Envahissants du Développement de l'Université de Montréal, (CETEDUM), Montréal, Canada.
Neuroimage Clin. 2018 Aug 4;20:415-423. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.04.036. eCollection 2018.
Behavioral, cognitive and functional particularities in autism differ according to autism subgroups and might be associated with domain-specific cognitive strengths. It is unknown whether structural changes support this specialization. We investigated the link between cortical folding, its maturation and cognitive strengths in autism subgroups presenting verbal or visuo-spatial peaks of abilities.
We measured gyrification, a structural index related to function, in 55 autistic participants with (AS-SOD, = 27) or without (AS-NoSOD, = 28) a speech onset delay (SOD) with similar symptom severity but respectively perceptual and verbal cognitive strengths, and 37 typical adolescents and young adults matched for intelligence and age. We calculated the local Gyrification Index (GI) throughout an occipito-temporal region of interest and independently modeled age and peak of ability effects for each group.
Unique gyrification features in both autistic groups were detected in localized clusters. When comparing the three groups, gyrification was found lower in AS-SOD in a fusiform visual area, whereas it was higher in AS-NoSOD in a temporal language-related region. These particular areas presented age-related gyrification differences reflecting contrasting local maturation pathways in AS. As expected, peaks of ability were found in a verbal subtest for the AS-NoSOD group and in the Block Design IQ subtest for the AS-SOD group.
Irrespective of their direction, regional gyrification differences in visual and language processing areas respectively reflect AS-SOD perceptual and AS-NoSOD language-oriented peaks. Unique regional maturation trajectories in the autistic brain may underline specific cognitive strengths, which are key variables for understanding heterogeneity in autism.
自闭症中的行为、认知和功能特点因自闭症亚组而异，并且可能与特定领域的认知优势相关。目前尚不清楚结构变化是否支持这种专业化。我们研究了在表现出言语或视空间能力高峰的自闭症亚组中，皮质折叠及其成熟度与认知优势之间的联系。
我们测量了 55 名自闭症患者（AS-SOD，= 27）或无言语起始延迟（AS-NoSOD，= 28）的大脑皮质褶皱，他们具有相似的症状严重程度，但分别具有知觉和言语认知优势，以及 37 名具有匹配智力和年龄的典型青少年和年轻人。我们在枕颞感兴趣区域计算了局部脑回指数（GI），并为每个组独立建模了年龄和能力高峰的影响。
在两个自闭症组中都检测到了独特的皮质褶皱特征，这些特征存在于局部簇中。当比较三组时，AS-SOD 的梭状回视觉区的褶皱较低，而 AS-NoSOD 的颞部语言相关区域的褶皱较高。这些特定区域的褶皱存在年龄相关的差异，反映了 AS 中局部成熟途径的对比。正如预期的那样，AS-NoSOD 组在言语亚测试中发现了能力高峰，AS-SOD 组在积木设计 IQ 亚测试中发现了能力高峰。
无论其方向如何，视觉和语言处理区域的区域褶皱差异分别反映了 AS-SOD 的知觉和 AS-NoSOD 的语言优势高峰。自闭症大脑中独特的区域成熟轨迹可能强调了特定的认知优势，这是理解自闭症异质性的关键变量。
