Abstract
Amygdala dysfunction plays a role in the social impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but it is unclear which of its subregions are abnormal in ASD. This study compared the volume and functional connectivity (FC) strength of three FC-defined amygdala subregions between ASD and controls, and assessed their relation to social skills in ASD. A subregion associated with the social perception network was enlarged in ASD (F1 = 7.842, p = .008) and its volume correlated significantly with symptom severity (social skills: r = .548, p = .009). Posthoc analysis revealed that the enlargement was driven by the vmPFC amygdala network. These findings refine our understanding of abnormal amygdala connectivity in ASD and may inform future strategies for therapeutic interventions targeting the amygdalofrontal pathway.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neuro developmental disorders characterized by severe impairments of reciprocal social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and abnormal sensory processes (American Psychiatric Association 2013; American Psychiatric Association 2000)
The amygdala was parcellated into three functional parcels (AOF, APF and AAC) based on its functional connectivity (FC) with each of the three cortical seeds
In the ASD group the mean parcel volume was 1576 mm3 (1244.2 mm3) in AAC, 3059.6 mm3 (1338.7 mm3) in AOF and 2454.8 mm3 (1231 mm3) in APF. To verify that this functional parcellation is based on meaningful signals, we confirmed that all parcels in both groups yielded significant FC with the corresponding cortical seeds
Summary
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neuro developmental disorders characterized by severe impairments of reciprocal social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and abnormal sensory processes (American Psychiatric Association 2013; American Psychiatric Association 2000). We used three anatomically defined amygdala subdivisions as seeds for a FC strength analysis and demonstrated that alterations within the amygdala network in ASD can be traced down to specific amygdala subdivisions This approach, reveals functional connections that are associated with each amygdala subdivision throughout the whole brain and is not system specific. We aimed to assess the functional architecture of the amygdala in adolescents with ASD by parcellating the amygdala based on its FC with three cortical seeds that are anchored within the system of ‘social brain networks’ (SBNs). Because the FC strength of the amygdala’s ‘vmPFC’ and ‘lOFC’ parcels have been reported as a good predictor of social network size (Bickart et al 2010, 2012), we hypothesized that the volumes of the amygdala parcels predict the severity of social symptoms and impairment in ASD
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