Functional and anatomical cortical underconnectivity in autism: Evidence from an fMRI study of an executive function task and corpus callosum morphometry
Functional and anatomical cortical underconnectivity in autism: Evidence from an fMRI study of an executive function task and corpus callosum morphometry
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhl006
复制
发表时间：
2007-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Minshew, Nancy J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Just, Marcel Adam;Cherkassky, Vladimir L.;Minshew, Nancy J.
在执行伦敦塔任务期间，使用功能磁共振成像测量了一组高功能自闭症参与者的大脑激活情况，并与智商、年龄和性别相匹配的对照组进行比较。两组的大脑皮层区域的激活程度基本相似。然而，有 3 项迹象表明自闭症组的联系不足。首先，自闭症患者额叶和顶叶激活区域之间的同步程度（即激活时间序列的功能连接或相关性）低于对照组参与者。其次，自闭症参与者的胼胝体相关部分（许多双侧激活的皮质区域通过胼胝体进行交流）的横截面积较小。第三，在自闭症组中，但在对照组中，胼胝体膝部的大小与额顶叶功能连接相关。这些发现表明，自闭症认知改变的神经基础需要由于皮质内连通性减少而导致某些皮质区域的信息整合程度较低。这些结果为自闭症患者皮质连接不足的新理论提供了支持，该理论认为神经和认知层面的信息整合存在缺陷。
The brain activation of a group of high-functioning autistic participants was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging during the performance of a Tower of London task, in comparison with a control group matched with respect to intelligent quotient, age, and gender. The 2 groups generally activated the same cortical areas to similar degrees. However, there were 3 indications of underconnectivity in the group with autism. First, the degree of synchronization (i.e., the functional connectivity or the correlation of the time series of the activation) between the frontal and parietal areas of activation was lower for the autistic than the control participants. Second, relevant parts of the corpus callosum, through which many of the bilaterally activated cortical areas communicate, were smaller in cross-sectional area in the autistic participants. Third, within the autism group but not within the control group, the size of the genu of the corpus callosum was correlated with frontal-parietal functional connectivity. These findings suggest that the neural basis of altered cognition in autism entails a lower degree of integration of information across certain cortical areas resulting from reduced intracortical connectivity. The results add support to a new theory of cortical underconnectivity in autism, which posits a deficit in integration of information at the neural and cognitive levels.