Reconceptualizing functional brain connectivity in autism from a developmental perspective.
Reconceptualizing functional brain connectivity in autism from a developmental perspective.
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DOI：
10.3389/fnhum.2013.00458
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Menon V
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Uddin LQ;Supekar K;Menon V
虽然研究人员几乎一致认为自闭症与大脑连接的改变有关，但这些改变的确切性质仍在争论中。理论和实证工作开始揭示，自闭症与一种复杂的功能表型有关，其特征是大规模大脑系统的低连接和高连接。目前还不清楚为什么在不同的研究中观察到这种相互矛盾的大脑连接模式，也没有确定导致这些不同发现的因素。到目前为止，功能连通性的发育变化没有得到足够的重视。我们认为，自闭症相关的低连接性和高连接性之间的发现之间的差异可以通过考虑发育变化来协调。我们回顾了自闭症的神经成像研究，重点是儿童、青少年和成人内在功能连接的功能磁共振成像研究。在几项研究中出现的一致模式是，虽然与年龄匹配的对照组相比，青少年和成人自闭症患者的内在功能连接性通常会降低，但患有这种疾病的年幼儿童的功能连接性似乎会增加。我们建议，通过将最近的经验发现放在一个发展框架内，并在未来的工作中明确描述年龄和青春期阶段，有可能解决现有文献中关于低连接和高连接的相互矛盾的发现，并对自闭症的神经生物学达成更全面的理解。
While there is almost universal agreement amongst researchers that autism is associated with alterations in brain connectivity, the precise nature of these alterations continues to be debated. Theoretical and empirical work is beginning to reveal that autism is associated with a complex functional phenotype characterized by both hypo- and hyper-connectivity of large-scale brain systems. It is not yet understood why such conflicting patterns of brain connectivity are observed across different studies, and the factors contributing to these heterogeneous findings have not been identified. Developmental changes in functional connectivity have received inadequate attention to date. We propose that discrepancies between findings of autism related hypo-connectivity and hyper-connectivity might be reconciled by taking developmental changes into account. We review neuroimaging studies of autism, with an emphasis on functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of intrinsic functional connectivity in children, adolescents and adults. The consistent pattern emerging across several studies is that while intrinsic functional connectivity in adolescents and adults with autism is generally reduced compared with age-matched controls, functional connectivity in younger children with the disorder appears to be increased. We suggest that by placing recent empirical findings within a developmental framework, and explicitly characterizing age and pubertal stage in future work, it may be possible to resolve conflicting findings of hypo- and hyper-connectivity in the extant literature and arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the neurobiology of autism.