Abnormal gray matter volume and functional connectivity patterns in social cognition‐related brain regions of young children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with abnormal brain imaging findings, but descriptions thereof are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to investigate brain abnormalities in young children with ASD using a combination of structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Structural and resting-state functional MRI was performed in 67 children with ASD (aged 2-7 years) and 39 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate differences in brain structure between groups. Topologic parameters of the functional brain network were compared by graph theoretic analysis and network connectomes were compared with network-based statistics. A support vector machine (SVM) was used to discriminate between ASD and TD groups. Results demonstrated young children with ASD had increased gray matter volumes (GMVs) in the right medial superior frontal gyrus and left fusiform gyrus compared with the TD group. The ASD group had altered subnetwork connectivity in frontal and temporal lobes and other social cognition-related brain regions. Functional connectivity in the left superior temporal gyrus and left temporal pole of the middle temporal gyrus was positively correlated with adaptability and language developmental quotient (DQ) in children with ASD. The combination of the brain structural and functional features had 86.2% accuracy in discriminating between ASD and TD. The present study shows that young children with ASD have altered GMVs and functional networks in social cognition-related brain regions, which are potential neuroimaging biomarkers for ASD. Lay SummaryThis study explored brain abnormalities in young children with ASD using a combination of structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging. Altered GMVs and functional networks in social cognition-related brain regions were found in subjects with ASD compared with TD controls, which are potential neuroimaging biomarkers for ASD.

Application of Multimodal MRI in the Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review

“…This increased surface area is primarily located in the middle occipital gyrus, cuneus, and lingual gyrus areas, further promoting early brain overgrowth [15,17,18]. Compared with TD children, the volumes of the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left inferior occipital gyrus, right angular gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and left inferior parietal lobule of the brain are increased in children with ASD [6,[19][20][21], whereas the right inferior temporal gyrus decreases in volume, thereby reflecting the atypical nature of the brain structure in children with ASD [22].…”