Developmental brain structural atypicalities in autism: a voxel-based morphometry analysis

作者：Hui Wang, Zenghui Ma, Lingzi Xu, Liu Yang, Zhao-Zheng Ji, Xinzhou Tang, Jingran Liu, Xue Li, Qingjiu Cao, Jing Liu · 发表于：Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1186/s13034-022-00443-4 · 被引用次数：42 · 研究领域：Autism Spectrum Disorder Research、Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders、Personality Disorders and Psychopathology

BACKGROUND: Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) studies have shown atypicalities in structural brain changes in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while a noticeable discrepancy in their results indicates the necessity of conducting further researches. METHODS: The current study investigated the atypical structural brain features of autistic individuals who aged 6-30 years old. A total of 52 autistic individuals and 50 age-, gender-, and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched typically developing (TD) individuals were included in this study, and were assigned into three based cohorts: childhood (6-12 years old), adolescence (13-18 years old), and adulthood (19-30 years old). Analyses of whole-brain volume and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on the sMRI data were conducted. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in the volumes of whole-brain, gray matter, and white matter between the autism and TD groups in the three age-based cohorts. For VBM analyses, the volumes of gray matter in the right superior temporal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule in the autism group (6-12 years old) were smaller than those in the TD group; the gray matter volume in the left inferior parietal lobule in the autism group (13-18 years old) was larger than that in the TD group; the gray matter volume in the right middle occipital gyrus in the autism group (19-30 years old) was larger than that in the TD group, and the gray matter volume in the left posterior cingulate gyr...