Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often described as a disorder of aberrant neural connectivity and/or aberrant hemispheric lateralization. Although it is important to study the pathophysiology of the developing ASD cortex, the physiological connectivity of the brain in young children with ASD under conscious conditions has not yet been described. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a noninvasive brain imaging technique that is practical for use in young children. MEG produces a reference-free signal and is, therefore, an ideal tool for computing the coherence between two distant cortical rhythms. Using a custom child-sized MEG, we recently reported that 5- to 7-year-old children with ASD (n = 26) have inherently different neural pathways than typically developing (TD) children that contribute to their relatively preserved performance of visual tasks. In this study, we performed non-invasive measurements of the brain activity of 70 young children (3–7 years old, of which 18 were aged 3-4 years), a sample consisting of 35 ASD children and 35 TD children. Physiological connectivity and the laterality of physiological connectivity were assessed using intrahemispheric coherence for 9 frequency bands. As a result, significant rightward connectivity between the parietotemporal areas, via gamma band oscillations, was found in the ASD group. As we obtained the non-invasive measurements using a custom child-sized MEG, this is the first study to demonstrate a rightward-lateralized neurophysiological network in conscious young children (including children aged 3–4 years) with ASD.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) appear in infancy or early childhood, causing delays or impairments in social interaction, communication, and a restricted range of interests
There were no significant differences in the intrahemispheric coherences between the ASD and typically developing (TD) children (Fig. 2a, b)
We examined neurophysiological connectivity in young children under conscious measurement conditions and provided initial evidence of aberrant, rightward-lateralized connectivity via gamma oscillation in young children with ASD, including in children aged 3–4 years, which was not demonstrated in our recent study of older children with ASD (5–7 years old) (Kikuchi et al, 2013)
Summary
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) appear in infancy or early childhood, causing delays or impairments in social interaction, communication, and a restricted range of interests. While a number of previous studies have reported underconnectivity in the ASD cortex (Coben et al, 2008; Just et al, 2004, 2007; Kana et al, 2006, 2007; Villalobos et al, 2005), some recent studies have indicated mixed or overconnectivity (Lee et al, 2009; Mizuno et al, 2006; Monk et al, 2009; Muller et al, 2011; Noonan et al, 2009; Shih et al, 2010, 2011) and/or aberrant lateralization in ASD brain connectivity (Koshino et al, 2005; Lee et al, 2009; Monk et al, 2009).
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