Abstract
Background: There is accumulating evidence showing that patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have obvious changes in resting-state functional brain activity. So far, there have been no meta-analyses of the resting-state brain activity alterations in patients with ASD. We attempted to explore the resting-state functional activity changes in patients with ASD, possibly providing a new perspective for investigating the pathophysiology of patients with ASD.Methods: We screened relevant studies published before August 2017 in PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and the Wan-fang database. Fifteen resting-state functional neural activity datasets (including 382 patients and 348 healthy controls) were included. Through the use of the effect-size signed differential mapping (ES-SDM) method, we carried out a meta-analysis of resting-state functional activity studies of patients with ASD.Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients with ASD showed hyperactivity in the right supplementary motor area, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, the left precentral gyrus, and the bilateral cerebellum hemispheric lobule (VIII/IX), and hypoactivity in the right middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and the left precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, median cingulate cortex, and bilateral cerebellum (crus I).Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicates that patients with ASD have significant and robust resting-state brain activity alterations in the language comprehension network, inferior-posterior cerebellum, default mode network (DMN), and cerebellar crus I. These brain regions may serve as specific regions of interest for further studies of ASD, which will allow us to further clarify the neurobiological mechanisms in patients with ASD.
Highlights
The main clinical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include impairments in social communication and interaction, as well as patterns of stereotypic and repetitive behaviors [1]
We selected the included studies according to the following inclusion criteria: [1] autistic disorder or Asperger’s disorder was diagnosed on the basis of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), or the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) diagnostic criteria; [2] comparisons of patients with ASD with healthy controls over the whole brain; [3] original studies published in English or Chinese; [4] the whole-brain results shown in three-dimensional coordinates (x, y, and z) in the standard stereotactic space (Talairach or MNI); and [5] use of the regional homogeneity (ReHo) or cerebral blood flow (CBF) or amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) method at the whole-brain level
Participants were further stratified into Child, Adolescent, and Adult groups in one study, which was treated as three unique studies
Summary
The main clinical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include impairments in social communication and interaction, as well as patterns of stereotypic and repetitive behaviors [1]. Resting-state brain activity, known as the default mode network, is observed through changes in blood flow in the brain that creates what is referred to as the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal, which can be measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting-state neuroimaging, which monitors intrinsic brain activity, has been proven to be a popular and reliable research tool that can provide important insights into the pathophysiology of ASD [5]. Two analytical methods have been used to quantify fMRI resting-state brain activity, including regional homogeneity (ReHo) and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF). There is accumulating evidence showing that patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have obvious changes in resting-state functional brain activity. We attempted to explore the resting-state functional activity changes in patients with ASD, possibly providing a new perspective for investigating the pathophysiology of patients with ASD
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