Individual‐based morphological brain network organization and its association with autistic symptoms in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Issue 10 (2nd May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: He, Changchun; Cortes, Jesus M.; Kang, Xiaodong; Cao, Jing; Chen, Heng; Guo, Xiaonan; Wang, Ruishi; Kong, Lingyin; Huang, Xinyue; Xiao, Jinming; Shan, Xiaolong; Feng, Rui; Chen, Huafu; Duan, Xujun
• Is Part Of: Human brain mapping. Volume 42:Issue 10(2021)
• Page Start: 3282
• Page End: 3294
• Publication Date: 2021-05-02
• Subjects: autism spectrum disorder -- individual‐based morphological brain network -- small‐worldness -- social communication deficits -- structural magnetic resonance imaging; Brain mapping -- Periodicals; 611.81
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25434
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1065-9471

Abstract

Abstract: Individual‐based morphological brain networks built from T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reflect synchronous maturation intensities between anatomical regions at the individual level. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a socio‐cognitive and neurodevelopmental disorder with high neuroanatomical heterogeneity, but the specific patterns of morphological networks in ASD remain largely unexplored at the individual level. In this study, individual‐based morphological networks were constructed by using high‐resolution structural MRI data from 40 young children with ASD (age range: 2–8 years) and 38 age‐, gender‐, and handedness‐matched typically developing children (TDC). Measurements were recorded as threefold. Results showed that compared with TDC, young children with ASD exhibited lower values of small‐worldness (i.e., σ) of individual‐level morphological brain networks, increased morphological connectivity in cortico‐striatum‐thalamic‐cortical (CSTC) circuitry, and decreased morphological connectivity in the cortico‐cortical network. In addition, morphological connectivity abnormalities can predict the severity of social communication deficits in young children with ASD, thus confirming an associational impact at the behavioral level. These findings suggest that the morphological brain network in the autistic developmental brain is inefficient in segregating and distributing information. The results also highlight the crucial role of abnormal morphological connectivity patterns in the socio‐cognitive deficits of ASD and support the possible use of the aberrant developmental patterns of morphological brain networks in revealing new clinically‐relevant biomarkers for ASD. Abstract : This research shed light on the crucial role of abnormal morphological connectivity patterns in the socio‐cognitive deficits of young children with autism spectrum disorder. We found that the morphological brain network showed poor efficiency of segregated and distributed information processing, and further exhibited the increased morphological connectivity in cortico‐striatum‐thalamic‐cortical circuitry and the decreased morphological connectivity in the cortico‐cortical network, which are associated with social deficits in the autistic developmental brain.