Bailey A, Luthert P, Dean A, Harding B, Janota I, Montgomery M, Rutter M, Lantos P
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Brain. 1998 May;121 ( Pt 5):889-905. doi: 10.1093/brain/121.5.889.
A neuropathological study of autism was established and brain tissue examined from six mentally handicapped subjects with autism. Clinical and educational records were obtained and standardized diagnostic interviews conducted with the parents of cases not seen before death. Four of the six brains were megalencephalic, and areas of cortical abnormality were identified in four cases. There were also developmental abnormalities of the brainstem, particularly of the inferior olives. Purkinje cell number was reduced in all the adult cases, and this reduction was sometimes accompanied by gliosis. The findings do not support previous claims of localized neurodevelopmental abnormalities. They do point to the likely involvement of the cerebral cortex in autism.
开展了一项关于自闭症的神经病理学研究，对6名患有自闭症的智力障碍受试者的脑组织进行了检查。获取了临床和教育记录，并对生前未见过的病例的父母进行了标准化诊断访谈。6个大脑中有4个脑容量增大，4例发现有皮质异常区域。脑干也存在发育异常，尤其是下橄榄核。所有成年病例的浦肯野细胞数量均减少，这种减少有时伴有胶质增生。这些发现不支持先前关于局限性神经发育异常的说法。它们确实表明大脑皮质可能参与了自闭症的发生。
