White matter connectivity between superior temporal sulcus and amygdala is associated with autistic trait in healthy humans

Iidaka, Tetsuya; Miyakoshi, Makoto; Harada, Tokiko; Nakai, Toshiharu

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2012.01.029

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Amygdala volume of children with ASD is significantly larger than in typically developing children (Sparks et al, ; Schumann et al, ; Mosconi et al, ; Kim et al, ; Nordahl et al, ). This relative overgrowth correlates with symptom severity, providing further evidence for the structure–function relationship of the amygdala in ASD (Munson et al, ; Mosconi et al, ; Schumann, Barnes, Lord, & Courchesne, ; Iidaka, Miyakoshi, Harada, & Nakai, ; Elison et al, ; Shen et al, ). However, the volume difference in ASD dissipates during adolescence as the amygdala continues to grow in TD (Schumann et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Protracted dendritic growth in the typically developing human amygdala and increased spine density in young ASD brains

Weir

Bauman

Jacobs

et al. 2017

J of Comparative Neurology

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The amygdala is a medial temporal lobe structure implicated in social and emotional regulation. In typical development (TD), the amygdala continues to increase volumetrically throughout childhood and into adulthood, while other brain structures are stable or decreasing in volume. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the amygdala undergoes rapid early growth, making it volumetrically larger in children with ASD compared to TD children. Here we explore: (a) if dendritic arborization in the amygdala follows the pattern of protracted growth in TD and early overgrowth in ASD and (b), if spine density in the amygdala in ASD cases differs from TD from youth to adulthood. The amygdala from 32 postmortem human brains (7–46 years of age) were stained using a Golgi-Kopsch impregnation. Ten principal neurons per case were selected in the lateral nucleus and traced using Neurolucida software in their entirety. We found that both ASD and TD individuals show a similar pattern of increasing dendritic length with age well into adulthood. However, spine density is (a) greater in young ASD cases compared to age-matched TD controls (<18 years old) and (b) decreases in the amygdala as people with ASD age into adulthood, a phenomenon not found in TD. Therefore, by adulthood, there is no observable difference in spine density in the amygdala between ASD and TD age-matched adults (≥18 years old). Our findings highlight the unique growth trajectory of the amygdala and suggest that spine density may contribute to aberrant development and function of the amygdala in children with ASD.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Protracted dendritic growth in the typically developing human amygdala and increased spine density in young ASD brains

Weir

Bauman

Jacobs

et al. 2017

J of Comparative Neurology

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“…The STS shows increased BOLD signals during gaze following in both monkeys (Kamphuis et al, 2009) and humans (Materna et al, 2008), suggesting that this cortical region could be essential to track the gaze and attention of others. It is likely, therefore, that gaze following behaviors rely on neural connections between face- and gaze-selective regions in the STS and the amygdala (Iidaka et al, 2012; Kliemann et al, 2012; Tsao et al, 2003) which might be modulated by OT through the NBM. Finally, neurons in the lateral intraparietal area track the gaze directions of both viewer and stimulus monkeys, which likely contributes to gaze following behaviors (Shepherd et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin enhances gaze-following responses to videos of natural social behavior in adult male rhesus monkeys

Putnam

Roman

Zimmerman

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Gaze following is a basic building block of social behavior that has been observed in multiple species, including primates. The absence of gaze following is associated with abnormal development of social cognition, such as in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Some social deficits in ASD, including the failure to look at eyes and the inability to recognize facial expressions, are ameliorated by intranasal administration of oxytocin (IN-OT). Here we tested the hypothesis that IN-OT might enhance social processes that require active engagement with a social partner, such as gaze following. Alternatively, IN-OT may only enhance the perceptual salience of the eyes, and may not modify behavioral responses to social signals. To test this hypothesis, we presented four monkeys with videos of conspecifics displaying natural behaviors. Each video was viewed multiple times before and after the monkeys received intranasally either 50 IU of OT or saline. We found that despite a gradual decrease in attention to the repeated viewing of the same videos (habituation), IN-OT consistently increased the frequency of gaze following saccades. Further analysis confirmed that these behaviors did not occur randomly, but rather predictably in response to the same segments of the videos. These findings suggest that in response to more naturalistic social stimuli IN-OT enhances the propensity to interact with a social partner rather than merely elevating the perceptual salience of the eyes. In light of these findings, gaze following may serve as a metric for pro-social effects of oxytocin that target social action more than social perception.

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“…Structural connections between the STS and amygdala have been identified (Grezes et al 2014; Iidaka et al 2012). Lahnakoski et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analytic connectivity modeling of the human superior temporal sulcus

2016

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The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is a critical region for multiple neural processes in the human brain (Hein and Knight 2008). To better understand the multiple functions of the STS it would be useful to know more about its consistent functional coactivations with other brain regions. We used the meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) technique to determine consistent functional coactivation patterns across experiments and behaviors associated with bilateral anterior, middle, and posterior anatomical STS subregions. Based on prevailing models for the cortical organization of audition and language, we broadly hypothesized that across various behaviors the posterior STS (pSTS) would coactivate with dorsal-stream regions, whereas the anterior STS (aSTS) would coactivate with ventral-stream regions. The results revealed distinct coactivation patterns for each STS subregion, with some overlap in the frontal and temporal areas, and generally similar coactivation patterns for the left and right STS. Quantitative comparison of STS subregion coactivation maps demonstrated that the pSTS coactivated more strongly than other STS subregions in the same hemisphere with dorsal-stream regions, such as the inferior parietal lobule (only left pSTS), homotopic pSTS, precentral gyrus and supplementary motor area. In contrast, the aSTS showed more coactivation with some ventral-stream regions, such as the homotopic anterior temporal cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus, pars orbitalis (only right aSTS). These findings demonstrate consistent coactivation maps across experiments and behaviors for different anatomical STS subregions, which may help future studies consider various STS functions in the broader context of generalized coactivations for individuals with and without neurological disorders.

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White matter connectivity between superior temporal sulcus and amygdala is associated with autistic trait in healthy humans

Cited by 37 publications

References 26 publications

Protracted dendritic growth in the typically developing human amygdala and increased spine density in young ASD brains

Protracted dendritic growth in the typically developing human amygdala and increased spine density in young ASD brains

Oxytocin enhances gaze-following responses to videos of natural social behavior in adult male rhesus monkeys

Meta-analytic connectivity modeling of the human superior temporal sulcus

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