___ Autism ___

Autism - Brain Regions and their Dysfunctions

Autism "We identified significant reduction in left white matter volume and white/gray matter ratio in autism. Regional brain volume reductions were detected for right anterior cingulate, left superior parietal lobule white matter volumes, and right parahippocampal gyrus gray matter volume, whereas enlargements in bilateral supramarginal gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and right posterior lobe of cerebellum gray matter in autism." S "The combination of enlarged cortex and reduced white matter is possibly the structural basis of some symptoms of classic autism." S "The low-functioning autism group had a prominent shape abnormality centered on the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus that was associated with a sulcal depth difference in the anterior insula and frontal operculum. The high-functioning autism group had bilateral shape abnormalities similar to the low-functioning group, but smaller in size and centered more posteriorly, in and near the parietal operculum and ventral postcentral gyrus." S "Recently, studies have provided evidence of neuroglial responses and neuroinflammation in autism." S "Our results demonstrate altered expressions of the PDE4A and PDE4B proteins in the brains of subjects with autism..." S "These results are in agreement with the hypothesis of impairment of the mirror neuron system in autistic disorder." S
Affected Region	Dysfunctions
Parietal lobe	Increased cortical folding in the parietal lobes S Slower- and larger-amplitude ERP source activity in the parietal somatosensory cortices possibly reflects more effortful compensatory analytical strategies used by autistic children to process facial gender and emotion S Hyper-reactivity of the left inferior parietal regions to auditory novel targets in children with high-functioning autism S Significant hypoperfusion in the right parietal cortex in parents of autistic children, and in the left parietal cortex in siblings of autistic children S Structural abnormalities in the inferior parietal lobe may correspond to attentional deficits; gray matter abnormalities near the right temporo-parietal junction may be associated with impaired 'theory of mind' abilities S Response shifting trials: Reduced activation in parietal regions; the severity of restricted, repetitive behaviors was negatively correlated with activation in posterior parietal regions S
Frontal lobes	Significant hypoperfusion in the bilateral inferior frontal cortex in parents of autistic children and in the right frontal cortex in siblings of autistic children S Increased cortical folding in the frontal lobes S Hyper-reactivity of the right prefrontal-premotor regions to auditory novel targets in children with high-functioning autism S Response shifting trials: Reduced activation in frontal regions S
Medial PFC	Significantly greater signal-change in medial rostral PFC (esp. BA 10) in the comparison of stimulus-oriented versus stimulus-independent attention on a test of executive function as well as an abnormal functional organisation of the MPFC S
Ventrolateral PFC	Significantly reduced neural activation in the left VLPFC while rating faces for trustworthiness S
Temporal lobe	Increased cortical folding in the temporal lobes S Medial temporal lobe and frontal lobe dysfunction lead to memory difficulties: "Memory in autism spectrum disorder is characterised by greater difficulties with recall rather than recognition and with a diminished use of semantic or associative relatedness in the aid of recall." S
Striatum	Response shifting trials: Reduced activation in striatal regions S
Amygdala	Significantly higher concentration of glutamate/glutamine and creatine/phosphocreatine in the amygdala-hippocampal region S Significantly reduced neural activation in the right amygdala during a task of complex social cognition (rating faces for trustworthiness) S Decreased connectivity to the left amygdala in high-functioning adults with ASD during face identification S
Anterior Cingulate Cortex	"When rewarded, individuals with autism compared with control individuals showed significantly greater brain activation in the left anterior cingulate gyrus. In addition, activation of this region was negatively correlated with social interaction." S Response shifting trials: the severity of restricted, repetitive behaviors was negatively correlated with activation in anterior cingulate regions S Less brain activation in areas often found to be active in response inhibition tasks, namely the ACC S Significantly decreased metabolism in both the anterior and posterior cingulate gyri and a reduced volume of the right anterior cingulate gyrus, specifically in Brodmann's area 24 S
Posterior Cingulate Cortex	Decreased connectivity to the PCC in high-functioning adults with ASD during face identification S
Caudate nucleus	Significant hypoperfusion in the right caudate nucleus S
Thalamus	Decreased connectivity to the thalamus in high-functioning adults with ASD during face identification S
Mammillary body	Cytoarchitectonic changes in the mammillary bodies S
Superior colliculus	"Oculomotor abnormalities may play a role as a sensorimotor defect at the root of impairments in later developing functional systems, ultimately resulting in sociocommunicative deficits." S
Cerebellum	Agenesis of the cerebellar vermis in early childhood autism S

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