Moraglia Luke E, Weigman Bernadette, Abdi Hervé, Styner Martin, Kim Sun Hyung, Burrows Catherine A, Shen Mark D, Ravi Shruthi, Wolff Jason J, Dager Stephen R, Hazlett Heather C, Pandey Juhi, Schultz Robert T, Girault Jessica B, Botteron Kelly N, Marrus Natasha, Estes Annette M, St John Tanya, Zheng Guoyan, Piven Joseph, Swanson Meghan R
Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2025 May;46(7):e70221. doi: 10.1002/hbm.70221.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents early in life with distinct social and language differences. This study explores the association between infant brain morphometry and language abilities using an infant-sibling design. Participants included infants who had an older sibling with autism (high likelihood, HL) who were later diagnosed with autism (HL-ASD; n = 31) and two non-autistic control groups: HL-Neg (HL infants not diagnosed with autism; n = 126) and LL-Neg (typically developing infants who did not have an older sibling with autism; n = 77). Using a whole-brain approach, we measured cortical thickness and surface area at 6 and 12 months and expressive and receptive language abilities at 24 months. Partial least squares correlation analyses were computed separately for each of the three groups. Results from the HL-ASD group indicated negative associations between surface area in the left inferior frontal gyrus and 24-month language abilities. Notably, regions outside the standard adult language network were also associated with language in the HL-ASD group. Results in the HL-ASD group highlight the distinct processing guiding development of surface area and cortical thickness; associations were mostly negative for surface area at 6 months but mostly positive for cortical thickness at the same time point. Results from this data-driven study align with the theory of interactive specialization-a theory highlighting the dynamic nature of the infant brain-and advocate for a whole-brain approach in investigating early brain-behavior neurodevelopment in ASD.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）在生命早期就表现出明显的社交和语言差异。本研究采用婴儿-兄弟姐妹设计，探讨婴儿脑形态测量与语言能力之间的关联。参与者包括有自闭症哥哥/姐姐的婴儿（高风险，HL），这些婴儿后来被诊断为自闭症（HL-ASD；n = 31），以及两个非自闭症对照组：HL-Neg（未被诊断为自闭症的HL婴儿；n = 126）和LL-Neg（没有自闭症哥哥/姐姐的正常发育婴儿；n = 77）。我们采用全脑方法，在6个月和12个月时测量皮质厚度和表面积，并在24个月时测量表达性和接受性语言能力。对三组中的每一组分别进行偏最小二乘相关分析。HL-ASD组的结果表明，左下额叶回的表面积与24个月时的语言能力呈负相关。值得注意的是，标准成人语言网络之外的区域也与HL-ASD组的语言相关。HL-ASD组的结果突出了表面积和皮质厚度发育的不同处理方式；6个月时表面积的相关性大多为负，但在同一时间点皮质厚度的相关性大多为正。这项数据驱动研究的结果与交互专业化理论一致——该理论强调婴儿大脑的动态性质——并主张在研究ASD早期脑-行为神经发育时采用全脑方法。
