Voxel-based morphometry study on brain structure in children with high-functioning autism

Abstract

Earlier studies have suggested abnormal brain volumes in autism, but inconsistencies exist. Using voxel-based morphometry, we compared global and regional brain volumes in 17 high-functioning autistic children with 15 matched controls. We identified significant reduction in left white matter volume and white/gray matter ratio in autism. Regional brain volume reductions were detected for right anterior cingulate, left superior parietal lobule white matter volumes, and right parahippocampal gyrus gray matter volume, whereas enlargements in bilateral supramarginal gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and right posterior lobe of cerebellum gray matter in autism. Our findings showed global and regional brain volumes abnormality in high-functioning autism.

Basal Forebrain Involvement in Low-Functioning Autistic Children: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

“…Higher than normal density, not observed by us, has been reported in inferior frontal cortex 10,13 and cerebellum. 3,8,14 Other investigations identified areas of higher or lower GM density that were unaffected in our patients, such as the amygdala, 8 cingulate gyrus, 8,11 fusiform gyrus, 10,14 and thalamus. 5,12,13 GM reduction in the basal forebrain, which is the most remarkable finding of our study, was not observed previously.…”

Can Asperger syndrome be distinguished from autism? An anatomic likelihood meta-analysis of MRI studies

“…Altogether, we included 15 studies describing regional grey matter volume differences. 30,32,35,38,41,[59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] Of these, 3 studies compared both people with Asperger syndrome and autism separately with J Psychiatry Neurosci 2011;36(6) controls. 30,32,41 The final autism group comprised 9 studies (Table 1) with 151 patients (mean age 18 yr) and 190 controls (mean age 17 yr).…”

Smaller insula and inferior frontal volumes in young adults with pervasive developmental disorders

“…On the other hand, several studies have reported smaller local GM volumes in frontalstriatal and cerebellar regions (McAlonan et al, 2002) and the superior temporal sulcus (STS) (Boddaert et al, 2004). Both enlarged GM volumes in some areas and smaller volumes in other areas have also been reported (Rojas et al, 2006;Ke et al, 2008).…”