Kameya Masafumi, Hirosawa Tetsu, Soma Daiki, Yoshimura Yuko, An Kyung-Min, Iwasaki Sumie, Tanaka Sanae, Yaoi Ken, Sano Masuhiko, Miyagishi Yoshiaki, Kikuchi Mitsuru
Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Aug 30;15:1419815. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1419815. eCollection 2024.
Atypical peak alpha frequency (PAF) has been reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, the relationships between PAF, age, and autistic traits remain unclear. This study was conducted to investigate and compare the resting-state PAF of young children with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers using magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Nineteen children with ASD and 24 TD children, aged 5-7 years, underwent MEG under resting-state conditions. The PAFs in ten brain regions were calculated, and the associations between these findings, age, and autistic traits, measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), were examined.
There were no significant differences in PAF between the children with ASD and the TD children. However, a unique positive association between age and PAF in the cingulate region was observed in the ASD group, suggesting the potential importance of the cingulate regions as a neurophysiological mechanism underlying distinct developmental trajectory of ASD. Furthermore, a higher PAF in the right temporal region was associated with higher SRS scores in TD children, highlighting the potential role of alpha oscillations in social information processing.
This study emphasizes the importance of regional specificity and developmental factors when investigating neurophysiological markers of ASD. The distinct age-related PAF patterns in the cingulate regions of children with ASD and the association between right temporal PAF and autistic traits in TD children provide novel insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of ASD. These findings pave the way for future research on the functional implications of these neurophysiological patterns and their potential as biomarkers of ASD across the lifespan.
已有报道称自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童存在非典型的峰值阿尔法频率（PAF）；然而，PAF、年龄和自闭症特征之间的关系仍不清楚。本研究旨在使用脑磁图（MEG）调查和比较患有ASD的幼儿与其发育正常（TD）的同龄人在静息状态下的PAF。
19名患有ASD的儿童和24名年龄在5至7岁的TD儿童在静息状态下接受了MEG检查。计算了十个脑区的PAF，并研究了这些结果与年龄以及使用社会反应量表（SRS）测量的自闭症特征之间的关联。
ASD儿童和TD儿童之间的PAF没有显著差异。然而，在ASD组中观察到扣带区年龄与PAF之间存在独特的正相关，这表明扣带区作为ASD独特发育轨迹潜在的神经生理机制具有潜在重要性。此外，右侧颞区较高的PAF与TD儿童较高的SRS得分相关，突出了阿尔法振荡在社会信息处理中的潜在作用。
本研究强调了在研究ASD的神经生理标志物时区域特异性和发育因素的重要性。ASD儿童扣带区与年龄相关的独特PAF模式以及TD儿童右侧颞区PAF与自闭症特征之间的关联为ASD的神经生物学基础提供了新的见解。这些发现为未来研究这些神经生理模式的功能意义及其作为ASD全生命周期生物标志物的潜力铺平了道路。
