Anatomical Connectivity in the Autistic Brain

自闭症大脑的解剖连接

• 批准号: 7256663
• 负责人: MARIANA LAZAR
• 金额: $ 8.45万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-05-02 至 2009-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7256663
• 关键词: Agreement; Amygdaloid structure; Anatomy; Anisotropy; Autistic Disorder; Behavior; Behavioral; Biological; Brain; Brain region; Characteristics; Cognitive; Communication; Comparative Study; Comprehension; Control Groups; Data; Development; Diffusion; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Discrimination; Disease; Dissection; Emotional; Emotions; Face; Face Processing; Facial Expression; Fiber; Functional Imaging; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Functional disorder; Fusiform gyrus; Goals; Human; Impairment; Knowledge; Language; Measures; Methods; Morus; Nature; Nerve Degeneration; Occipital lobe; Parietal; Pathway interactions; Patients; Pattern; Perception; Range; Reaction Time; Short-Term Memory; Social Interaction; Structure; Techniques; Testing; Tissues; Triad Acrylic Resin; Verbal Behavior; base; dalton; developmental disease; emotion regulation; executive function; extrastriate visual cortex; face perception; gaze; gray matter; in vivo; insight; neural circuit; novel; relating to nervous system; sample fixation; social; social communication impairment; theories; water diffusion; white matter

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is a brain developmental disorder that is characterized by deficits in social interaction, behavior, and cognitive and language functions. Both functional and morphometric studies have implied that the brain abnormalities that are observed in autism may be associated with impairment of the white matter pathways connecting different brain regions. It has been suggested that communication between remote brain regions (long-range connectivity) is reduced and communication between neighboring brain regions (short-range connectivity) is increased in the autistic brain. To date, no direct study of the anatomical connectivity in autism has been performed. The goal of this project is to investigate the relation between short and long-range anatomical connectivity in autism and the organization of white matter pathways that connect cortical regions involved in face processing. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and white matter tractography (WMT) techniques will be used to segment specific white matter structures and to derive structure-specific measures of anatomical connectivity. A comparative study of the anatomical connectivity in high-functioning autistic patients and comparison healthy subjects will be performed. In addition to DTI we will acquire Functional MRI data during a task involving discrimination of facial expressions. We will explore the relations between behavioral and functional measures and anatomical connectivity measures in regions involved in face processing. The results of this study may reveal connectivity alterations in specific pathways or brain regions and thereby contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying brain dysfunction in autism. The study of the white matter pathways involved in face processing will also contribute to the understanding of the abnormal brain activation patterns that are generally observed in autism during face processing tasks and to the understanding of some of the face processing deficits in autism. Autism is a lifelong disorder that is characterized by considerable behavioral, verbal, and social communication impairments. This study will investigate the integrity of the white matter pathways that connect remote and adjacent functional brain regions involved in the discrimination of facial expressions. Knowledge of the impaired brain connectivity will provide new insights into the mechanisms that underlie brain disfunction in autism.

描述（由申请人提供）：自闭症是一种脑发育障碍，其特征是社会互动，行为，认知和语言功能的缺陷。功能和形态计量学研究都暗示，自闭症中观察到的大脑异常可能与连接不同大脑区域的白质途径的损害有关。已经提出，远程大脑区域之间的通信（远程连通性）降低了，自闭症大脑中相邻大脑区域之间的通信（短距离连通性）增加。迄今为止，尚未对自闭症的解剖连通性进行直接研究。该项目的目的是研究自闭症中短期和远程解剖连通性与连接涉及面部处理的皮质区域的白质途径的组织之间的关系。扩散张量成像（DTI）和白质拖拉术（WMT）技术将用于分割特定的白质结构并得出解剖连通性的结构特异性测量。将对高功能的自闭症患者和比较健康受试者进行解剖连通性的比较研究。除DTI外，我们还将在涉及歧视面部表情的任务中获取功能性MRI数据。我们将探索面部处理中涉及的地区的行为和功能措施与解剖连通性测量之间的关系。这项研究的结果可能揭示了特定途径或大脑区域的连通性改变，从而有助于理解自闭症中脑功能障碍的机制。对面部处理所涉及的白质途径的研究也将有助于理解面部处理任务期间自闭症中通常在自闭症中观察到的异常脑部激活模式，并了解自闭症中某些面部处理缺陷。自闭症是一种终身疾病，其特征是行为，口头和社会交流障碍。这项研究将研究与面部表情区分有关的偏远和相邻功能大脑区域的白质途径的完整性。对大脑连通性受损的知识将为自闭症中大脑失功的机制提供新的见解。