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The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a set of neurodevelopmental conditions whose striking sex-related disparity (with an estimated male-to-female ratio of 4:1) remains unknown. Here we use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to identify the brain structure co...

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Autores principales: Irimia, Andrei, Torgerson, Carinna M., Jacokes, Zachary J., Van Horn, John D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5387713/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28397802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep46401
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author Irimia, Andrei
Torgerson, Carinna M.
Jacokes, Zachary J.
Van Horn, John D.
author_facet Irimia, Andrei
Torgerson, Carinna M.
Jacokes, Zachary J.
Van Horn, John D.
author_sort Irimia, Andrei
collection PubMed
description Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a set of neurodevelopmental conditions whose striking sex-related disparity (with an estimated male-to-female ratio of 4:1) remains unknown. Here we use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to identify the brain structure correlates of the sex-by-ASD diagnosis interaction in a carefully selected cohort of 110 ASD patients (55 females) and 83 typically-developing (TD) subjects (40 females). The interaction was found to be predicated primarily upon white matter connectivity density innervating, bilaterally, the lateral aspect of the temporal lobe, the temporo-parieto-occipital junction and the medial parietal lobe. By contrast, regional gray matter (GM) thickness and volume are not found to modulate this interaction significantly. When interpreted in the context of previous studies, our findings add considerable weight to three long-standing hypotheses according to which the sex disparity of ASD incidence is (A) due to WM connectivity rather than to GM differences, (B) modulated to a large extent by temporoparietal connectivity, and (C) accompanied by brain function differences driven by these effects. Our results contribute substantially to the task of unraveling the biological mechanisms giving rise to the sex disparity in ASD incidence, whose clinical implications are significant.
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spelling pubmed-53877132017-04-12 The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities Irimia, Andrei Torgerson, Carinna M. Jacokes, Zachary J. Van Horn, John D. Sci Rep Article Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a set of neurodevelopmental conditions whose striking sex-related disparity (with an estimated male-to-female ratio of 4:1) remains unknown. Here we use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to identify the brain structure correlates of the sex-by-ASD diagnosis interaction in a carefully selected cohort of 110 ASD patients (55 females) and 83 typically-developing (TD) subjects (40 females). The interaction was found to be predicated primarily upon white matter connectivity density innervating, bilaterally, the lateral aspect of the temporal lobe, the temporo-parieto-occipital junction and the medial parietal lobe. By contrast, regional gray matter (GM) thickness and volume are not found to modulate this interaction significantly. When interpreted in the context of previous studies, our findings add considerable weight to three long-standing hypotheses according to which the sex disparity of ASD incidence is (A) due to WM connectivity rather than to GM differences, (B) modulated to a large extent by temporoparietal connectivity, and (C) accompanied by brain function differences driven by these effects. Our results contribute substantially to the task of unraveling the biological mechanisms giving rise to the sex disparity in ASD incidence, whose clinical implications are significant. Nature Publishing Group 2017-04-11 /pmc/articles/PMC5387713/ /pubmed/28397802 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep46401 Text en Copyright © 2017, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Irimia, Andrei
Torgerson, Carinna M.
Jacokes, Zachary J.
Van Horn, John D.
The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title_full The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title_fullStr The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title_full_unstemmed The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title_short The connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
title_sort connectomes of males and females with autism spectrum disorder have significantly different white matter connectivity densities
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5387713/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28397802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep46401
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