Reduced asymmetry of the hand knob area and decreased sensorimotor u-fiber connectivity in middle-aged adults with autism

Hau, Janice; Baker, Ashley R.; Chaaban, Chantal; Kohli, Jiwandeep S.; Keehn, R. Joanne Jao; Linke, Annika C.; Mash, Lisa E.; Wilkinson, Molly; Kinnear, Mikaela; Müller, Ralph‐Axel; Carper, Ruth A.

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2022.04.004

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…In our study, the results showed that various GM asymmetry alterations were located in several clusters in the general ASD group, predominantly involving the temporal, frontal, and parahippocampal gyrus, which part overlapped with findings in previous studies, such as the parahippocampal gyrus having more leftward asymmetry (Li et al, 2021). However, in the postcentral gyrus, general ASD showed more rightward asymmetry; previous studies by Hau et al (2022) reported leftward asymmetry of the postcentral gyrus volume in ASD patients relative to the TD group. Interestingly, we found that this brain region exhibited more rightward asymmetry in the SI and RRB subgroups but leftward asymmetry in the VA subgroup.…”

Section: The Atypical Pattern Of Gm Asymmetry In the General Asd Groupsupporting

confidence: 89%

Gray matter asymmetry atypical patterns in subgrouping minors with autism based on core symptoms

Chen

et al. 2023

Front. Neurosci.

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Abnormal gray matter (GM) asymmetry has been verified in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterized by high heterogeneity. ASD is distinguished by three core symptom domains. Previous neuroimaging studies have offered support for divergent neural substrates of different core symptom domains in ASD. However, no previous study has explored GM asymmetry alterations underlying different core symptom domains. This study sought to clarify atypical GM asymmetry patterns underlying three core symptom domains in ASD with a large sample of 230 minors with ASD (ages 7–18 years) and 274 matched TD controls from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I (ABIDE I) repository. To this end, the scores of the revised autism diagnostic interview (ADI-R) subscales were normalized for grouping ASD into three core-symptom-defined subgroups: social interaction (SI), verbal communication (VA), and restricted repetitive behaviors (RRB). We investigated core-symptom-related GM asymmetry alterations in ASD resulting from advanced voxel-based morphometry (VBM) by general linear models. We also examined the relationship between GM asymmetry and age and between GM asymmetry and symptom severity assessed by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). We found unique GM asymmetry alterations underlying three core-symptom-defined subgroups in ASD: more rightward asymmetry in the thalamus for SI, less rightward asymmetry in the superior temporal gyrus, anterior cingulate and caudate for VA, and less rightward asymmetry in the middle and inferior frontal gyrus for RRB. Furthermore, the asymmetry indexes in the thalamus were negatively associated with ADOS_SOCIAL scores in the general ASD group. We also showed significant correlations between GM asymmetry and age in ASD and TD individuals. Our results support the theory that each core symptom domain of ASD may have independent etiological and neurobiological underpinnings, which is essential for the interpretation of heterogeneity and the future diagnosis and treatment of ASD.

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Section: The Atypical Pattern Of Gm Asymmetry In the General Asd Groupsupporting

confidence: 89%

Gray matter asymmetry atypical patterns in subgrouping minors with autism based on core symptoms

Chen

et al. 2023

Front. Neurosci.

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“…The double asterisks (**) represent a significant P value less than 0.01. (A) WMH volume comparison in whole white matter (Whole), periventricular (PV) and deep white matter ( 15 ). (B) WMH volume comparison in different lobes (bilateral frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital lobes) and cerebellum.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quantitative studies of the presence of U-fiber involvement are valuable in narrowing the differential diagnosis of different WM lesions. Recently, several quantitative studies have analyzed disease characteristics and mechanisms based on U-fibers in diseases such as epilepsy ( 13 ), autism spectrum disorders ( 14 , 15 ), and first-episode schizophrenia ( 16 ). However, in those studies of WM disease, little attention was given to the quantification of U-fibers, especially for cerebral small vessel diseases (cSVD).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

U-fiber analysis: a toolbox for automated quantification of U-fibers and white matter hyperintensities

Zheng,

Fei,

et al. 2024

Quant Imaging Med Surg

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Background Whether white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) involve U-fibers is of great value in understanding the different etiologies of cerebral white matter (WM) lesions. However, clinical practice currently relies only on the naked eye to determine whether WMHs are in the vicinity of U-fibers, and there is a lack of good neuroimaging tools to quantify WMHs and U-fibers. Methods Here, we developed a multimodal neuroimaging toolbox named U-fiber analysis (UFA) that can automatically extract WMHs and quantitatively characterize the volume and number of WMHs in different brain regions. In addition, we proposed an anatomically constrained U-fiber tracking scheme and quantitatively characterized the microstructure diffusion properties, fiber length, and number of U-fibers in different brain regions to help clinicians to quantitatively determine whether WMHs in the proximal cortex disrupt the microstructure of U-fibers. To validate the utility of the UFA toolbox, we analyzed the neuroimaging data from 246 patients with cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) enrolled at Zhongshan Hospital between March 2018 and November 2019 in a cross-sectional study. Results According to the manual judgment of the clinician, the patients with cSVD were divided into a WMHs involved U-fiber group (U-fiber-involved group, 51 cases) and WMHs not involved U-fiber group (U-fiber-spared group, 163 cases). There were no significant differences between the U-fiber-spared group and the U-fiber-involved group in terms of age (P=0.143), gender (P=0.462), education (P=0.151), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores (P=0.151), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores (P=0.411). However, patients in the U-fiber-involved group had higher Fazekas scores (P<0.001) and significantly higher whole brain WMHs (P=0.046) and deep WMH volumes (P<0.001) compared to patients in the U-fiber-spared group. Moreover, the U-fiber-involved group had higher WMH volumes in the bilateral frontal [P(left) <0.001, P(right) <0.001] and parietal lobes [P(left) <0.001, P(right) <0.001]. On the other hand, patients in the U-fiber-involved group had higher mean diffusivity (MD) and axial diffusivity (AD) in the bilateral parietal [P(left, MD) =0.048, P(right, MD) =0.045, P(left, AD) =0.015, P(right, AD) =0.015] and right frontal-parietal regions [P(MD) =0.048, P(AD) =0.027], and had significantly reduced mean fiber length and number in the right parietal [P(length) =0.013, P(number) =0.028] and right frontal-parietal regions [P(length) =0.048] compared to patients in the U-fiber-spared group. Conclusions Our results suggest that WMHs in the proximal cortex may disrupt the microstructure of U-fibers. Our tool may provide new insights into the understanding of WM lesions of different etiologies in the brain.

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“…Other anatomical studies examining age‐related effects have indicated differential rates of morphological change across adulthood compared to typical controls (Braden & Riecken, 2019; Kohli et al., 2019). Connectivity studies have suggested both functional and anatomical differences underlying motor dysfunction in adults with ASD, including reduced and more variable sensorimotor cortex functional connectivity (Linke et al., 2020) and diminished morphological laterality and u‐fiber connectivity based on diffusion MRI data (Hau et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between atypical intracortical myelin content and neuropsychological functions in middle to older aged adults with ASD

Kohli,

Linke,

Martindale

et al. 2024

Brain and Behavior

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IntroductionIn vivo myeloarchitectonic mapping based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides a unique view of gray matter myelin content and offers information complementary to other morphological indices commonly employed in studies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study sought to determine if intracortical myelin content (MC) and its age‐related trajectories differ between middle aged to older adults with ASD and age‐matched typical comparison participants.MethodsData from 30 individuals with ASD and 36 age‐matched typical comparison participants aged 40–70 years were analyzed. Given substantial heterogeneity in both etiology and outcomes in ASD, we utilized both group‐level and subject‐level analysis approaches to test for signs of atypical intracortical MC as estimated by T1w/T2w ratio.ResultsGroup‐level analyses showed no significant differences in average T1w/T2w ratio or its associations with age between groups, but revealed significant positive main effects of age bilaterally, with T1w/T2w ratio increasing with age across much of the cortex. In subject‐level analyses, participants were classified into subgroups based on presence or absence of clusters of aberrant T1w/T2w ratio, and lower neuropsychological function was observed in the ASD subgroup with atypically high T1w/T2w ratio in spatially heterogeneous cortical regions. These differences were observed across several neuropsychological domains, including overall intellectual functioning, processing speed, and aspects of executive function.ConclusionsThe group‐level and subject‐level approaches employed here demonstrate the value of examining inter‐individual variability and provide important preliminary insights into relationships between brain structure and cognition in the second half of the lifespan in ASD, suggesting shared factors contributing to atypical intracortical myelin content and poorer cognitive outcomes for a subset of middle aged to older autistic adults. These atypicalities likely reflect diverse histories of neurodevelopmental deficits, and possible compensatory changes, compounded by processes of aging, and may serve as useful markers of vulnerability to further cognitive decline in older adults with ASD.

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Reduced asymmetry of the hand knob area and decreased sensorimotor u-fiber connectivity in middle-aged adults with autism

Cited by 4 publications

References 117 publications

Gray matter asymmetry atypical patterns in subgrouping minors with autism based on core symptoms

Gray matter asymmetry atypical patterns in subgrouping minors with autism based on core symptoms

U-fiber analysis: a toolbox for automated quantification of U-fibers and white matter hyperintensities

Associations between atypical intracortical myelin content and neuropsychological functions in middle to older aged adults with ASD

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