Regional cerebral glucose metabolism and attention in adults with a history of childhood autism

Abstract

Sixteen high-functioning adults with a history of childhood autism and 26 normal control subjects underwent [18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography to assess regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate (GMR). Autistic patients had a left > right anterior rectal gyrus asymmetry, as opposed to the normal right > left asymmetry in that region. Patients also showed low GMR in the left posterior putamen and high GMR in the right posterior calcarine cortex. Brain regions with GMR > 3 SD from the normal mean were more prevalent in patients than in control subjects. This variable pattern of abnormal activity is consistent with heterogeneous neurophysiological etiology; group differences in striatum and cortex may represent a final common pathway.

Evaluating Functional Connectivity Alterations in Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Network-Based Statistics

“…Basal ganglia are thought to be involved in motor system abnormalities that are observed in ASD children [ 31 ], such as the difficulties in planning and executing precise movements, gait abnormalities, spasmodic or involuntary movements, or repetitive and stereotyped movements, such as head banging, hand flapping or body rocking. Other studies have found both structural and metabolic alterations in basal ganglia, such as an increase in the volume of the caudate nucleus [ 32 ] or alterations in the metabolism of glucose in posterior putamen [ 33 ].…”

“…Furthermore, other fMRI studies that support the underconnectivity hypothesis in ASD patients consider that both the frontal lobe and the limbic system have an implication in the brain dysfunctions that ASD patients experience [ 33 , 34 ].…”

Persistent Angiogenesis in the Autism Brain: An Immunocytochemical Study of Postmortem Cortex, Brainstem and Cerebellum

“…We propose the sustained splitting angiogenesis is a necessary component to maintain the heightened neuronal activity reported in ASD patients. Many biological and functional indicators are increased in ASD including cerebral metabolic rate (Rumsey et al 1985; Siegel et al 1992), regional synchronous electrical activity (Perez Velazquez et al 2009; Rumsey and Ernst 2000), sensitivity to sound (Stiegler and Davis 2010; Thabet 2014); cortical activity in deactivation centers at rest (Kennedy et al 2006a, b), low-level visuospatial processing (Guy et al 2015), visual-tactile interactions (Poole et al 2015); attention to low-level perceptual information (O’Connor and Kirk 2008) and over-connected, redundant cortical networks (Whyte et al 2015; Keown et al 2013; Supekar et al 2013). It can be suggested that sustained rearrangement of microvasculature permits excessive shorter and local connections to be maintained and prevents the growth of longer and more complex brain connections required for language and social interactions.…”

Psychological Correlates of Handedness and Corpus Callosum Asymmetry in Autism: The left Hemisphere Dysfunction Theory Revisited

“…Computerized tomography (CT) scanning reveals increased cerebral blood flow in the right temporal and right parietal lobes (Hashimoto et al 2000). Siegel et al (1992) found leftward reductions in glucose metabolism in the posterior putamen. Also, the amygdala was shown to display reduced leftward volume in individuals with autism (Rojas et al 2004).…”