Li Xiuxian, Wu Shengjuan, Yang Wenzhong, Jiang Chengcheng, Zhao Zhiwei, Wang Hong, Lin Fuchun
National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025 Jan 24. doi: 10.1007/s00787-025-02651-7.
Emerging evidence suggests aberrant functional connectivity (FC) of brain networks in children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about alterations of dynamic FC in toddlers with ASD. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of brain network dynamics in ASD toddlers. We analyzed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 41 ASD and 23 typically-developing (TD) toddlers aged 15-45 months using leading eigenvector dynamics analysis. The between-group differences in the temporal properties of state were evaluated, followed by correlation analysis of these differences with autistic factors in ASD. Compared with TD subjects, ASD toddlers had a lower occurrence rate and mean dwell time in the global state. The mean dwell time of this state was negatively correlated with the body and object use of the autism behavior checklist (ABC) score. The ASD group presented a higher occurrence probability in the state related to the visual network, and the dwell time of this state was positively correlated with the relationship building of the ABC score. Moreover, the occurrence probability of the state related to the dorsal attention network and default mode network was positively correlated with the body and object use of the ABC score. Our findings indicate that there are differences in the developmental patterns of large-scale brain functional networks in ASD toddlers, which may contribute to the early identification of ASD and provide meaningful insights into its potential neural mechanisms.
新出现的证据表明，患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童、青少年和成人存在大脑网络功能连接异常（FC）。然而，对于患有ASD的幼儿动态功能连接的改变知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查患有ASD的幼儿大脑网络动力学特征。我们使用主导特征向量动力学分析，分析了41名患有ASD的幼儿和23名发育正常（TD）的15至45个月大幼儿的静息态功能磁共振成像数据。评估了组间状态时间属性的差异，随后对这些差异与ASD中的自闭症因素进行了相关性分析。与TD组受试者相比，患有ASD的幼儿在全局状态下的发生率和平均停留时间较低。该状态的平均停留时间与自闭症行为检查表（ABC）评分中的身体和物品使用情况呈负相关。ASD组在与视觉网络相关的状态下出现概率较高，且该状态的停留时间与ABC评分中的关系建立呈正相关。此外，与背侧注意网络和默认模式网络相关的状态出现概率与ABC评分中的身体和物品使用情况呈正相关。我们的研究结果表明，患有ASD的幼儿大规模大脑功能网络的发育模式存在差异，这可能有助于ASD的早期识别，并为其潜在的神经机制提供有意义的见解。
