NEUROIMAGING STUDIES OF AUTISM AND ASPERGER DISORDER

尽管各种数据有力地表明自闭症是一种 神经发育障碍，这种疾病的病因仍然是 未知。神经成像方法提供了独特的研究能力 活体内的神经异常。然而，部分原因是 诊断方法、研究设计和图像测量程序，在那里 在自闭症的神经影像文献中，很少有重复的发现。这 该项目寻求通过结合两个人的努力来纠正这些问题 积极参与人类神经生物学研究的研究实验室 自闭症(加州大学洛杉矶分校和耶鲁大学)，扩大他们的资源和样本量，以及 采用一套统一的核心诊断、神经心理学和成像 跨中心的方法来解决几个关键假设 关于自闭症的病理生理学。 项目中所有高功能的先证者和未受影响的控制 家庭遗传学，将在加州大学洛杉矶分校或 耶鲁大学网站，并将通过相同的诊断和 神经心理学程序。结构性神经成像数据将是 结合在一起对潜在的微妙之处进行统计上的强大检查 自闭症患者和对照组之间的神经基因组差异包括： 杏仁核、海马体和部分额叶区域的体积，总计 脑体积、神经发育异常和横断面积 老茧体部和小脑疣的位置。磁共振成像数据来自 自闭症受试者将被汇编成计算机化的地图集和 与类似的正常发育图谱进行比较。耶鲁大学将进一步发展 努力验证高功能自闭症和自闭症的区别 Asperger综合征，并扩大使用功能磁共振的试点工作，以研究 对面孔和情绪表达的感知。 该项目将是第一个整合遗传学的研究， 大样本的活体成像和行为研究方法 自闭症受试者和配对良好的对照组，从而提供了一种独特的 有机会更好地了解自闭症的各种表现。

Although a variety of data strongly indicate that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, the etiology of this disorder remains unknown. Neuroimaging methods offer the unique capability of studying neural abnormalities in vivo. However, due in part to heterogeneity of diagnostic methods, study design and image measurement procedures, there are few replicated findings in the neuroimaging literature of autism. This project seeks to rectify these problems by combining the efforts of two research laboratories active in the investigation of the neurobiology of autism (UCLA and Yale), expanding their resources and sample sizes, and employing a uniform set of core diagnostic, neuropsychological and imaging methodologies across centers to address several critical hypotheses regarding the pathophysiology of autism. All high functioning probands and unaffected controls in the Project Family Genetics, will undergo the neuroimaging protocol at the UCLA or Yale site, and will be assessed with identical diagnostic and neuropsychological procedures. Structural neuroimaging data will be combined for statistically powerful examination of potentially subtle neuroantomic differences between autistic subjects and controls including: volume of the amygdala, hippocampus and select frontal lobe regions, total brain volume, neurodevelopmental abnormalities, and cross-sectional areas of the corpus callosum and the cerebellar vermis. MRI data from the subjects with autism will be compiled into a computerized atlas and compared to a similar atlas of normal development. Yale will further its effort to validate the distinction between higher functioning autism and Asperger syndrome, and extend pilot work using functional MRI to study the perception of faces and emotional expressions. This project would represent the first study to integrate genetics, in vivo imaging and behavioral research methodologies in a large sample of autistic subjects and well matched controls, thus providing a unique opportunity to better understand the varying manifestations of autism.