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Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors

INTRODUCTION: The amygdala subnuclei regulate emotional processing and are widely implicated in social cognitive impairments often seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dysregulated amygdala development has been reported in young children with ASD; less is known about amygdala matura...

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Autores principales: Seguin, Diane, Pac, Sara, Wang, Jianan, Nicolson, Rob, Martinez‐Trujillo, Julio, Duerden, Emma G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8413788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34333868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2299
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author Seguin, Diane
Pac, Sara
Wang, Jianan
Nicolson, Rob
Martinez‐Trujillo, Julio
Duerden, Emma G.
author_facet Seguin, Diane
Pac, Sara
Wang, Jianan
Nicolson, Rob
Martinez‐Trujillo, Julio
Duerden, Emma G.
author_sort Seguin, Diane
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The amygdala subnuclei regulate emotional processing and are widely implicated in social cognitive impairments often seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dysregulated amygdala development has been reported in young children with ASD; less is known about amygdala maturation in later adolescence, a sensitive window for social skill development. METHODS: The macrostructural development of the amygdala subnuclei was assessed at two time points in a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of adolescents with ASD (n = 23) and typically‐developing adolescents (n = 15) . In adolescents with ASD, amygdala subnuclei growth was assessed in relation to ASD symptomatology based on standardized diagnostic assessments. Participants were scanned with MRI at median age of 12 years and returned for a second scan at a median age of 15 years. The volumes of nine amygdala subnuclei were extracted using an automatic segmentation algorithm. RESULTS: When examining the longitudinal data acquired across two time points, adolescents with ASD had larger basolateral amygdala (BLA) nuclei volumes compared to typically developing adolescents (B = 46.8, p = 0.04). When examining ASD symptomatology in relation to the growth of the amygdala subnuclei, reciprocal social interaction scores on the ADI‐R were positively associated with increased growth of the BLA nuclei (B = 8.3, p < 0.001). Growth in the medial nucleus negatively predicted the communication (B = −46.9, p = 0.02) and social (B = −47.7, p < 0.001) domains on the ADOS‐G. Growth in the right cortical nucleus (B = 26.14, p = 0.02) positively predicted ADOS‐G social scores. Central nucleus maturation (B = 29.9, p = 0.02) was associated with the repetitive behaviors domain on the ADOS‐G. CONCLUSIONS: Larger BLA volumes in adolescents with ASD may reflect underlying alterations in cellular density previously reported in post‐mortem studies. Furthermore, findings demonstrate an association between regional growth in amygdala subnuclei volumes and ASD symptomatology. Improved understanding of the developmental trajectories of the amygdala subnuclei may aid in identifying key windows for interventions, particularly for social communication, in adolescents with ASD.
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spelling pubmed-84137882021-09-07 Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors Seguin, Diane Pac, Sara Wang, Jianan Nicolson, Rob Martinez‐Trujillo, Julio Duerden, Emma G. Brain Behav Original Research INTRODUCTION: The amygdala subnuclei regulate emotional processing and are widely implicated in social cognitive impairments often seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dysregulated amygdala development has been reported in young children with ASD; less is known about amygdala maturation in later adolescence, a sensitive window for social skill development. METHODS: The macrostructural development of the amygdala subnuclei was assessed at two time points in a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of adolescents with ASD (n = 23) and typically‐developing adolescents (n = 15) . In adolescents with ASD, amygdala subnuclei growth was assessed in relation to ASD symptomatology based on standardized diagnostic assessments. Participants were scanned with MRI at median age of 12 years and returned for a second scan at a median age of 15 years. The volumes of nine amygdala subnuclei were extracted using an automatic segmentation algorithm. RESULTS: When examining the longitudinal data acquired across two time points, adolescents with ASD had larger basolateral amygdala (BLA) nuclei volumes compared to typically developing adolescents (B = 46.8, p = 0.04). When examining ASD symptomatology in relation to the growth of the amygdala subnuclei, reciprocal social interaction scores on the ADI‐R were positively associated with increased growth of the BLA nuclei (B = 8.3, p < 0.001). Growth in the medial nucleus negatively predicted the communication (B = −46.9, p = 0.02) and social (B = −47.7, p < 0.001) domains on the ADOS‐G. Growth in the right cortical nucleus (B = 26.14, p = 0.02) positively predicted ADOS‐G social scores. Central nucleus maturation (B = 29.9, p = 0.02) was associated with the repetitive behaviors domain on the ADOS‐G. CONCLUSIONS: Larger BLA volumes in adolescents with ASD may reflect underlying alterations in cellular density previously reported in post‐mortem studies. Furthermore, findings demonstrate an association between regional growth in amygdala subnuclei volumes and ASD symptomatology. Improved understanding of the developmental trajectories of the amygdala subnuclei may aid in identifying key windows for interventions, particularly for social communication, in adolescents with ASD. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8413788/ /pubmed/34333868 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2299 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Seguin, Diane
Pac, Sara
Wang, Jianan
Nicolson, Rob
Martinez‐Trujillo, Julio
Duerden, Emma G.
Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title_full Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title_fullStr Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title_full_unstemmed Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title_short Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
title_sort amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: association with social communication and repetitive behaviors
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8413788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34333868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2299
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