Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes) Consortium, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
Neuroimage. 2020 Oct 1;219:117009. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117009. Epub 2020 Jun 3.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience impairments in social communication and interaction, and often show difficulties with receiving and offering touch. Despite the high prevalence of abnormal reactions to touch in ASD, and the importance of touch communication in human relationships, the neural mechanisms underlying atypical touch processing in ASD remain largely unknown. To answer this question, we provided both pleasant and unpleasant touch stimulation to male adults with and without ASD during functional neuroimaging. By employing generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis combined with an independent component analysis approach, we characterize stimulus-dependent changes in functional connectivity patterns for processing two tactile stimuli that evoke different emotions (i.e., pleasant vs. unpleasant touch). Results reveal that neurotypical male adults showed extensive stimulus-sensitive modulations of the functional network architecture in response to the different types of touch, both at the level of brain regions and large-scale networks. Conversely, far fewer stimulus-sensitive modulations were observed in the ASD group. These aberrant functional connectivity profiles in the ASD group were marked by hypo-connectivity of the parietal operculum and major pain networks and hyper-connectivity between the semantic and limbic networks. Lastly, individuals presenting more social deficits and a more negative attitude towards social touch showed greater hyper-connectivity between the limbic and semantic networks. These findings suggest that reduced stimulus-related modulation of this functional network architecture is associated with abnormal processing of touch in ASD.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个体在社交沟通和互动方面存在障碍，并且经常表现出接受和提供触觉方面的困难。尽管 ASD 中异常触觉反应的患病率很高，且触觉交流在人际关系中很重要，但 ASD 中异常触觉处理的神经机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。为了回答这个问题，我们在功能神经影像学中为 ASD 男性和非 ASD 男性提供了愉快和不愉快的触觉刺激。通过使用广义心理生理交互分析结合独立成分分析方法，我们描述了处理两种引起不同情绪（即愉快和不愉快触觉）的触觉刺激时功能连接模式的刺激依赖性变化。结果表明，神经典型的成年男性对不同类型的触觉表现出广泛的刺激敏感调节作用，无论是在大脑区域还是在大规模网络层面上。相比之下，在 ASD 组中观察到的刺激敏感调节作用要少得多。ASD 组的这些异常功能连接图谱的特点是顶叶脑岛和主要疼痛网络的连接性降低，语义和边缘网络之间的连接性增加。最后，表现出更多社交缺陷和对社交触觉更消极态度的个体在边缘和语义网络之间表现出更大的连接性增加。这些发现表明，这种功能网络架构的刺激相关调节减少与 ASD 中触觉处理异常有关。
