Wang Yu, Cao Aihua, Wang Jing, Bai He, Liu Tianci, Sun Chenxi, Li Zhuoran, Tang Yuchun, Xu Feifei, Liu Shuwei
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder, Shandong Key Laboratory of Digital Human and Clinical Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Institute of Brain and Brain-Inspired Science, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Autism Res. 2025 Jan;18(1):83-97. doi: 10.1002/aur.3287. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
The cerebellum plays a crucial role in functions, including sensory-motor coordination, cognition, and emotional processing. Compared to the neocortex, the human cerebellum exhibits a protracted developmental trajectory. This delayed developmental timeline may lead to increased sensitivity of the cerebellum to external influences, potentially extending the vulnerability period for neurological disorders. Abnormal cerebellar development in individuals with autism has been confirmed, and these atypical cerebellar changes may affect the development of the neocortex. However, due to the heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the regional changes in the cerebellum and cerebellocerebral structural relationship remain unknown. To address these issues, we utilized imaging methods optimized for the cerebellum and cerebrum on 817 individuals aged 5-18 years in the ABIDE II dataset. After FDR correction, significant differences between groups were found in the right crus II/VIIB and vermis VI-VII. Structural covariance analysis revealed enhanced structural covariance in individuals with autism between the cerebellum and parahippocampal gyrus, pars opercularis, and transverse temporal gyrus in the right hemisphere after FDR correction. Furthermore, the structural covariance between the cerebellum and some regions of the cerebrum varied across sexes. A significant increase in structural covariance between the cerebellum and specific subcortical structures was also observed in individuals with ASD. Our study found atypical patterns in the structural covariance between the cerebellum and cerebrum in individuals with autism, which suggested that the underlying pathological processes of ASD might concurrently affect these brain regions. This study provided insight into the potential of cerebellocerebral pathways as therapeutic targets for ASD.
小脑在包括感觉运动协调、认知和情绪处理等功能中起着关键作用。与新皮质相比，人类小脑呈现出较长的发育轨迹。这种延迟的发育时间表可能导致小脑对外部影响的敏感性增加，从而可能延长神经疾病的脆弱期。自闭症患者的小脑发育异常已得到证实，这些非典型的小脑变化可能会影响新皮质的发育。然而，由于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的异质性，小脑的区域变化以及小脑与大脑的结构关系仍不清楚。为了解决这些问题，我们在ABIDE II数据集中对817名5至18岁的个体使用了针对小脑和大脑优化的成像方法。经过FDR校正后，发现右小脑脚II/VIIB和蚓部VI-VII在组间存在显著差异。结构协方差分析显示，在FDR校正后，自闭症个体的小脑与右侧海马旁回、岛盖部和颞横回之间的结构协方差增强。此外，小脑与大脑某些区域之间的结构协方差在不同性别之间存在差异。在ASD个体中还观察到小脑与特定皮质下结构之间的结构协方差显著增加。我们的研究发现自闭症个体的小脑与大脑之间的结构协方差存在非典型模式，这表明ASD的潜在病理过程可能同时影响这些脑区。这项研究为小脑-大脑通路作为ASD治疗靶点的潜力提供了见解。
