Atypical Local and Distal Patterns of Occipito-frontal Functional Connectivity are Related to Symptom Severity in Autism
Atypical Local and Distal Patterns of Occipito-frontal Functional Connectivity are Related to Symptom Severity in Autism
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhy201
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发表时间：
2019-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Mueller, Ralph-Axel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Keehn, R. Joanne Jao;Nair, Sangeeta;Mueller, Ralph-Axel
自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种日益普遍的神经发育障碍，其特征是社会沟通障碍。越来越多的共识表明，神经行为异常需要用相互连接的网络来解释。尽管理论上推测局部连接性增加而远端连接性减少，但在ASD中还没有系统地研究局部和远端功能连接性之间的联系。具体地说，是否假设的局部过度连接可能反映了孤立的与过度整合的加工，这一点仍然没有定论。研究对象包括57名患有自闭症的儿童和青少年和51名典型发展中(TD)患者的静息状态功能磁共振数据。在区域同质性(REHO)分析中，发现距骨周视皮层局部过度连接(ASD>；TD)。在全脑分析中，我们使用这个区域作为种子，观察到通过k-均值聚类确定的ASD亚组的远端区域，特别是额叶中回的过度连接。虽然在这个亚组中，局部枕叶到远侧额叶过度连接与更大的症状严重程度相关，但第二个亚组显示出相反的连接模式和症状严重程度相关。我们的研究结果表明，ASD患者局部连通性的增强是地区特有的，可能部分与更具综合性的长距离连通性有关。结果还强调了测试亚型的必要性，因为在我们的ASD队列的两个不同的亚组中观察到了大脑-行为联系的不同模式。
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are increasingly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by sociocommunicative impairments. Growing consensus indicates that neurobehavioral abnormalities require explanation in terms of interconnected networks. Despite theoretical speculations about increased local and reduced distal connectivity, links between local and distal functional connectivity have not been systematically investigated in ASDs. Specifically, it remains open whether hypothesized local overconnectivity may reflect isolated versus overly integrative processing. Resting state functional MRI data from 57 children and adolescents with ASDs and 51 typically developing (TD) participants were included. In regional homogeneity (ReHo) analyses, pericalcarine visual cortex was found be locally overconnected (ASD > TD). Using this region as seed in whole-brain analyses, we observed overconnectivity in distal regions, specifically middle frontal gyri, for an ASD subgroup identified through k-means clustering. While in this subgroup local occipital to distal frontal overconnectivity was associated with greater symptom severity, a second subgroup showed the opposite pattern of connectivity and symptom severity correlations. Our findings suggest that increased local connectivity in ASDs is region-specific and may be partially associated with more integrative long-distance connectivity. Results also highlight the need to test for subtypes, as differential patterns of brain-behavior links were observed in two distinct subgroups of our ASD cohort.