Autism and neural connectivity

作者：Palau Baduell Montserrat^*; Salvado Salvado Berta; Clofent Torrento Mariona; Valls Santasusana Antonio

来源：Revista de Neurologia, 2012, 54: S31-S39.

• Autism spectrum disorders
• Diffusion tensor imaging
• Functional connectivity
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging
• Structural connectivity
• Under-connectivity

Introduction. Recent studies have investigated functional and structural brain connectivity in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Neuroimaging and electroencephalographic studies have found evidences suggesting that connectivity patterns are altered in ASD.
Aims. To review recent works from structural and functional neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies, and to provide a summary of advances in research implicating disordered connectivity in ASD.
Development. Functional findings reveal that patients with ASD have deficit in long-distance connections (under-connectivity), with a most prominent deficit in fronto-posterior connections. With regard to structural connectivity there is evidence of disruption to inter-hemispheric white matter structures. Less functional studies reveal that patients with ASD also have an excess of local connections (over-connectivity), but findings from structural studies are considerably more inconsistent.
Conclusions. The converging findings of functional connectivity abnormalities and white matter abnormalities in autism suggest that alterations in neural connectivity and the communication between different brain regions may be involved in behavioral and cognitive deficits associated with autism.

• 出版日期2012-3