Anatomical Connectivity in the Autistic Brain

描述(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、认知和语言功能缺陷。功能和形态计量学研究都表明，自闭症患者的大脑异常可能与连接不同大脑区域的白质通路受损有关。有研究表明，在自闭症患者的大脑中，远程脑区之间的通信(远程连接)减少，而邻近脑区之间的通信(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患者的短距离和长距离解剖连接与连接参与面部处理的皮质区域的白质通路的组织之间的关系。扩散张量成像(DTI)和白质束成像(WMT)技术将被用来分割特定的白质结构，并得出解剖连接的结构特定的测量。将对高功能自闭症患者和对照健康受试者的解剖连接性进行比较研究。除了DTI，我们还将在一项涉及面部表情辨别的任务中获得功能磁共振数据。我们将探索在涉及人脸加工的区域中行为和功能测量与解剖连接测量之间的关系。这项研究的结果可能揭示特定路径或大脑区域的连接性变化，从而有助于理解自闭症脑功能障碍的机制。对参与面孔加工的白质通路的研究也将有助于理解自闭症患者在面孔加工任务中普遍观察到的异常脑激活模式，并有助于理解自闭症患者的一些面孔加工缺陷。自闭症是一种终生障碍，其特征是严重的行为、语言和社会沟通障碍。这项研究将调查白质通路的完整性，这些通路连接着参与面部表情辨别的遥远和邻近的大脑功能区。对大脑连接受损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.