Impaired White Matter Integrity and Social Cognition in High-Function Autism: Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Psychiatry Investigation
Woo Young ImDong-Ho Song

Abstract

It is known that many of the cognitive and social deficits associated with autism can arise from abnormal functional connectivity between brain networks. This aberrant functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can be explained by impaired integrity of white matter tracts that link distant regions of the networks. We investigated white matter in 9 children with high-function autism (HFA) compared to 13 typically developing controls using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The aim of this research is to provide supporting evidence for abnormalities in neural connectivity as an underlying pathophysiology of the main characteristics of ASD. We found impairment of neural connectivity, mainly in association fiber tracts as evidenced by decreased fractional anisotropy (FA), the index of white matter integrity, of these tracts. Among them, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) had a significant relationship with ADI-R score. The inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) also showed decreased FA. Decreased FA of ILF and SLF had negative correlations with scores of social interaction. These findings suggest that widespread abnormalities in association fiber tracts may contribute...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 23, 2019·Cerebral Cortex·Dennis DimondSigne Bray
Dec 17, 2019·Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders·Derek Sayre AndrewsChristine Wu Nordahl
May 20, 2020·Molecular Autism·Abigail ThompsonChristine Ecker
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Jul 1, 2021·Autism Research and Treatment·Christina ManningBernard Crespi

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Software Mentioned

FMRIB
FMRIB Diffusion Toolbox
TBSS
FMRIB Software Library ( FSL
FSL

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