White matter fractional anisotrophy differences and correlates of diagnostic symptoms in autism

Abstract

Our data support the position that diagnostic symptoms of autism are associated with a core disruption of white matter development.

Abnormal Developmental Trajectories of White Matter in Autism - The Contribution of MRI

“…a very heterogeneous group. Consistent findings in these studies were reduced FA in the CC Lee et al, 2009;Shukla et al, 2010Shukla et al, , 2011b in the superior temporal gyrus (Cheung et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2007Lee et al, , 2009Shukla et al, 2011a); the anterior cingulate cortex (Cheng et al, 2010;Thakkar et al, 2008); the frontal lobe (Cheng et al, 2010;Shukla etl al., 2011a;Sundaram et al, 2008); the thalamus (Lee et al, 2009) and the interior and posterior limbs of the internal capsule (Cheng et al, 2010;Shukla et al, 2010). (Catani et al, 2008).…”

Structural Neural Phenotype of Autism: Preliminary Evidence from a Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study Using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics

“…45 Moreover, several DTI studies have revealed abnormalities of the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. 17,[20][21][22]46 Finally, similar to the inferior fronto-oc- cipital fasciculus, the superior longitudinal fasciculus also has a broad neuroanatomic extent, connecting the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes. 42 As evident in Fig 1, this tract also may potentially serve an important role in linking all the components of brain structures involved in social cognition.…”

Neural Signatures of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Insights into Brain Network Dynamics

“…The extent to which water molecules diffuse in a consistent direction along the WM tract provides a proxy measure of WM integrity, the most common of which is fractional anisotropy (FA). Diffusion studies in children, adolescents, and adults with ASD have documented multiple structural connectivity differences, mostly suggesting reduced WM integrity in long-range anterior-posterior and interhemispheric fiber tracts (Alexander et al, 2007;BarneaGoraly et al, 2004BarneaGoraly et al, , 2010Cheng et al, 2010;Shukla et al, 2011;Sundaram et al, 2008), with few studies reporting heightened WM integrity (Bode et al, 2011;Cheng et al, 2010;Cheung et al, 2009). Notably, many of the specific fiber tracts reported as altered in ASD serve as structural connections between brain regions subserving social cognition.…”