Anatomical Connectivity in the Autistic Brain

描述（由申请人提供）：自闭症是一种大脑发育障碍，其特征是社交、行为、认知和语言功能的缺陷。功能和形态测量学研究都表明，在自闭症中观察到的大脑异常可能与连接不同大脑区域的白色通路受损有关。有人认为，在自闭症患者的大脑中，远程大脑区域之间的通信（远程连接）减少，相邻大脑区域之间的通信（短程连接）增加。到目前为止，还没有对自闭症的解剖连接进行直接研究。这个项目的目标是研究自闭症的短距离和长距离解剖连接与连接面部处理皮质区域的白色物质通路的组织之间的关系。扩散张量成像（DTI）和白色物质纤维束成像（WMT）技术将用于分割特定的白色物质结构，并导出解剖连接的结构特异性测量。将对高功能自闭症患者和比较健康受试者的解剖连接进行比较研究。除了DTI，我们还将在涉及面部表情识别的任务中获取功能性MRI数据。我们将探讨行为和功能的措施和解剖连接措施在涉及面部处理的区域之间的关系。这项研究的结果可能揭示特定通路或大脑区域的连接改变，从而有助于理解自闭症大脑功能障碍的机制。对参与面部处理的白色物质通路的研究也将有助于理解自闭症患者在面部处理任务中通常观察到的异常大脑激活模式，并有助于理解自闭症患者的一些面部处理缺陷。孤独症是一种终身障碍，其特征是相当大的行为，语言和社会沟通障碍。本研究将探讨白色通路的完整性，该通路连接参与面部表情辨别的远端和相邻功能脑区。对受损的大脑连接的了解将为自闭症大脑功能障碍的机制提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is a brain developmental disorder that is characterized by deficits in social interaction, behavior, and cognitive and language functions. Both functional and morphometric studies have implied that the brain abnormalities that are observed in autism may be associated with impairment of the white matter pathways connecting different brain regions. It has been suggested that communication between remote brain regions (long-range connectivity) is reduced and communication between neighboring brain regions (short-range connectivity) is increased in the autistic brain. To date, no direct study of the anatomical connectivity in autism has been performed. The goal of this project is to investigate the relation between short and long-range anatomical connectivity in autism and the organization of white matter pathways that connect cortical regions involved in face processing. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and white matter tractography (WMT) techniques will be used to segment specific white matter structures and to derive structure-specific measures of anatomical connectivity. A comparative study of the anatomical connectivity in high-functioning autistic patients and comparison healthy subjects will be performed. In addition to DTI we will acquire Functional MRI data during a task involving discrimination of facial expressions. We will explore the relations between behavioral and functional measures and anatomical connectivity measures in regions involved in face processing. The results of this study may reveal connectivity alterations in specific pathways or brain regions and thereby contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying brain dysfunction in autism. The study of the white matter pathways involved in face processing will also contribute to the understanding of the abnormal brain activation patterns that are generally observed in autism during face processing tasks and to the understanding of some of the face processing deficits in autism. Autism is a lifelong disorder that is characterized by considerable behavioral, verbal, and social communication impairments. This study will investigate the integrity of the white matter pathways that connect remote and adjacent functional brain regions involved in the discrimination of facial expressions. Knowledge of the impaired brain connectivity will provide new insights into the mechanisms that underlie brain disfunction in autism.