Zilbovicius M, Garreau B, Samson Y, Remy P, Barthélémy C, Syrota A, Lelord G
Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Tours, France.
Am J Psychiatry. 1995 Feb;152(2):248-52. doi: 10.1176/ajp.152.2.248.
The authors investigated the metabolic maturation of the frontal cortex in pre-school autistic children.
Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in five children with primary autism diagnosed according to the DSM-III-R criteria was studied longitudinally. Regional CBF in each of the autistic children was measured with single photon emission computed tomography twice during their development: at the age of 3-4 years and 3 years later. At each stage, the autistic children were compared to an age-matched comparison group of five nonautistic children with normal development.
A transient frontal hypoperfusion was found in the autistic children at ages 3-4 years; this corresponded to the pattern of perfusion observed in much younger normal children. By the ages of 6-7, the autistic children's frontal perfusion had attained normal values.
Since CBF patterns in children are related to maturational changes in brain function, these results indicate a delayed frontal maturation in childhood autism. Such a delayed brain maturational process is consistent with the clinical data and cognitive performance of autistic children.
作者研究了学龄前自闭症儿童额叶皮质的代谢成熟情况。
对五名根据DSM-III-R标准诊断为原发性自闭症的儿童的局部脑血流量（CBF）进行了纵向研究。在自闭症儿童成长过程中，使用单光子发射计算机断层扫描对每名儿童的局部脑血流量进行了两次测量：一次在3至4岁时，另一次在3年后。在每个阶段，将自闭症儿童与五名发育正常的年龄匹配的非自闭症儿童对照组进行比较。
在3至4岁的自闭症儿童中发现了短暂的额叶灌注不足；这与在年龄小得多的正常儿童中观察到的灌注模式相对应。到6至7岁时，自闭症儿童的额叶灌注已达到正常值。
由于儿童的脑血流量模式与脑功能的成熟变化有关，这些结果表明儿童自闭症存在额叶成熟延迟。这种延迟的脑成熟过程与自闭症儿童的临床数据和认知表现一致。
