Deakin University, Australia.
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
Autism. 2020 Feb;24(2):364-373. doi: 10.1177/1362361319866030. Epub 2019 Jul 24.
Continued human and animal research has strengthened evidence for aberrant excitatory-inhibitory neural processes underlying autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorder psychopathology, particularly psychosocial functioning, in clinical and nonclinical populations. We investigated the extent to which autistic traits and schizotypal dimensions were modulated by the interactive relationship between excitatory glutamate and inhibitory GABA neurotransmitter concentrations in the social processing area of the superior temporal cortex using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In total, 38 non-clinical participants (20 females; age range = 18-35 years, mean (standard deviation) = 23.22 (5.52)) completed the autism spectrum quotient and schizotypal personality questionnaire, and underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify glutamate and GABA concentrations in the right and left superior temporal cortex. Regression analyses revealed that glutamate and GABA interactively modulated autistic social skills and schizotypal interpersonal features ( < 0.05), such that those with high right superior temporal cortex glutamate but low GABA concentrations exhibited poorer social and interpersonal skills. These findings evidence an excitation-inhibition imbalance that is specific to psychosocial features across the autism and schizophrenia spectra.
持续的人类和动物研究加强了证据表明，在临床和非临床人群中，自闭症和精神分裂症谱系障碍精神病理学的基础是异常的兴奋性抑制性神经过程，特别是社会心理功能。我们使用质子磁共振波谱研究了在社会处理区域中兴奋性谷氨酸和抑制性 GABA 神经递质浓度的相互关系对自闭症特征和精神分裂症维度的调节程度 superior temporal cortex。共有 38 名非临床参与者（20 名女性；年龄范围为 18-35 岁，平均值（标准差）= 23.22（5.52））完成了自闭症谱系商数和精神分裂症人格问卷，并进行了质子磁共振波谱分析以定量右和左颞上皮质中的谷氨酸和 GABA 浓度。回归分析表明，谷氨酸和 GABA 相互调节自闭症的社交技能和精神分裂症的人际特征（<0.05），即右颞上皮质谷氨酸浓度高但 GABA 浓度低的人表现出较差的社交和人际技能。这些发现证明了兴奋抑制失衡是自闭症和精神分裂症谱系中特定的社会心理特征。
