Kang Jiannan, Li Xiaoli, Casanova Manuel F, Sokhadze Estate M, Geng Xinling
College of Electronic & Information Engineering, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 2022 Dec;60(12):3655-3664. doi: 10.1007/s11517-022-02693-y. Epub 2022 Oct 25.
To compare the differences in directed connectivity between typically developing (TD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children and identify the potential effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on brain connectivity and behavior of children with ASD; 26 TD children (18 males/8 females; the average age was 6.34 ± 0.45) and 30 ASD children (21 males/9 females; the average age was 6.42 ± 0.17) participated in the experiment. ASD children were divided randomly into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received 18 rTMS sessions (twice a week for nine weeks), whereas the control group received the same procedures with sham stimulation. Directed transfer function (DTF) was used to calculate the effective connectivity as a way of investigating differences between ASD and TD children while simultaneously evaluating the effectiveness of rTMS for ASD. The results illustrate that the DTF of TD children in the frontal lobe (Fp1, Fp2, F7, F8) and temporal lobe (T7, T8) is higher than that of ASD children in all frequency bands; however, the DTF of ASD children is higher than TD in the midline (Fz, Cz), central lobe (C3, C4), and parietal lobe (P3, P4). In the experimental group of ASD children, the effective connectivity decreased from O1 to T7 and from P7 to Fp1 in the alpha band and from Pz to T8 in the gamma band after stimulation. Significant changes in Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) scores were also found in social behaviors. Effective connectivity derived from DTF distinguishes ASD from TD children. rTMS provides changes in connectivity and behavior, suggesting its potential use as a viable treatment option for ASD individuals.
为比较典型发育（TD）儿童与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童之间定向连接性的差异，并确定重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）对ASD儿童大脑连接性和行为的潜在影响；26名TD儿童（18名男性/8名女性；平均年龄为6.34±0.45岁）和30名ASD儿童（21名男性/9名女性；平均年龄为6.42±0.17岁）参与了实验。ASD儿童被随机分为实验组和对照组。实验组接受18次rTMS治疗（每周两次，共九周），而对照组接受相同程序的假刺激。使用定向传递函数（DTF）计算有效连接性，以研究ASD儿童与TD儿童之间的差异，同时评估rTMS对ASD的有效性。结果表明，在所有频段中，TD儿童额叶（Fp1、Fp2、F7、F8）和颞叶（T7、T8）的DTF高于ASD儿童；然而，ASD儿童在中线（Fz、Cz）、中央叶（C3、C4）和顶叶（P3、P4）的DTF高于TD儿童。在ASD儿童实验组中，刺激后α波段从O1到T7以及从P7到Fp1的有效连接性降低，γ波段从Pz到T8的有效连接性降低。在社交行为方面，自闭症行为检查表（ABC）评分也有显著变化。由DTF得出的有效连接性可区分ASD儿童与TD儿童。rTMS使连接性和行为发生了变化，表明其有可能作为ASD个体的一种可行治疗选择。
