Medical Scientist Training Program, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Neuroscience Undergraduate Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021 Aug;6(8):767-781. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.09.011. Epub 2020 Sep 22.
Auditory perceptual abnormalities are common in persons on the autism spectrum. The neurophysiologic underpinnings of these differences have frequently been studied using auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related magnetic fields (ERFs). However, no study to date has quantitatively synthesized this literature to determine whether early auditory ERP/ERF latencies or amplitudes in autistic persons differ from those of typically developing control subjects.
We searched PubMed and ProQuest for studies comparing 1) latencies/amplitudes of P1/M50, N1b, N1c, M100, P2/M200, and/or N2 ERP/ERF components evoked by pure tones and 2) paired-click sensory gating (P1/N1b amplitude suppression) in autistic individuals and typically developing control subjects. Effects were synthesized using Bayesian 3-level meta-analysis.
In response to pure tones, autistic individuals exhibited prolonged P1/M50 latencies (g = 0.341 [95% credible interval = 0.166, 0.546]), prolonged M100 latencies (g = 0.319 [0.093, 0.550]), reduced N1c amplitudes (g = -0.812 [-1.278, -0.187]), and reduced N2 amplitudes (g = -0.374 [-0.633, -0.179]). There were no practically significant group differences in P2/M200 latencies, N2 latencies, P1/M50 amplitudes, N1b amplitudes, M100 amplitudes, or P2/M200 amplitudes. Paired-click sensory gating was also reduced in autistic individuals (g = -0.389 [-0.619, -0.112]), although this effect was primarily driven by smaller responses to the first click stimulus.
Relative to typically developing control subjects, autistic individuals demonstrate multiple alterations in early cortical auditory processing of simple stimuli. However, most group differences were modest in size and based on small numbers of heterogeneous studies with variable quality. Future work is necessary to understand whether these neurophysiologic measures can predict clinically meaningful outcomes or serve as stratification biomarkers for the autistic population.
听觉感知异常在自闭症谱系人群中很常见。这些差异的神经生理基础经常使用听觉事件相关电位（ERP）和事件相关磁场（ERF）进行研究。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究对该文献进行定量综合，以确定自闭症患者的早期听觉 ERP/ERF 潜伏期或幅度是否与典型发育对照受试者不同。
我们在 PubMed 和 ProQuest 上搜索了比较 1）自闭症个体和典型发育对照受试者对纯音诱发的 P1/M50、N1b、N1c、M100、P2/M200 和/或 N2 ERP/ERF 成分的潜伏期/幅度，以及 2）双耳刺激声（P1/N1b 幅度抑制）的感觉门控的研究。使用贝叶斯 3 水平荟萃分析对效应进行了综合。
对纯音的反应中，自闭症个体表现出 P1/M50 潜伏期延长（g=0.341 [95%可信区间 0.166，0.546]），M100 潜伏期延长（g=0.319 [0.093，0.550]），N1c 幅度降低（g=-0.812 [-1.278，-0.187]），N2 幅度降低（g=-0.374 [-0.633，-0.179]）。在 P2/M200 潜伏期、N2 潜伏期、P1/M50 幅度、N1b 幅度、M100 幅度或 P2/M200 幅度方面，两组之间没有显著的差异。自闭症个体的双耳刺激声感觉门控也降低（g=-0.389 [-0.619，-0.112]），尽管这一效应主要是由于对第一个刺激的反应较小所致。
与典型发育对照受试者相比，自闭症个体对简单刺激的早期皮质听觉处理表现出多种改变。然而，大多数组间差异的大小适中，且基于数量较少、质量各异的异质性研究。未来的工作需要了解这些神经生理测量值是否可以预测有临床意义的结果，或者是否可以作为自闭症人群的分层生物标志物。
