Functional connectivity in a baseline resting-state network in autism

Vladimir L Cherkassky,Timothy A Keller,Rajesh K Kana,Marcel Adam Just

doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000239956.45448.4c

Abstract

Brain activity in people with high-functioning autism has been shown to be atypical in a number of ways, including reduced synchronization across areas of activation measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. This activation atypicality has been observed mostly during the performance of cognitive tasks. This study compares the resting-state network of 57 participants with autism and 57 control participants matched for age and intelligence quotient. The results indicate that both groups have a resting-state network that is very similar both in volume and in organization, but in autism this network is much more loosely connected. This functional underconnectivity was observed in the anterior-posterior connections. The results expand the theory of cortical underconnectivity in autism to the resting state of the brain.

Highlights

This study compares the resting-state network of 57 participants with autism and 57 control participants matched for age and intelligence quotient.The results indicate that both groups have a resting-state network that is very similar both in volume and in organization, but in autism this network is much more loosely connected
Converging evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies has indicated that autism is a system-wide disorder with reduced synchronization of the time course of brain activation found in several tasks, such as language processing [1], working memory [2], executive functioning [3], and visual imagery [4]
The brain regions identified as default mode areas have been localized most often to medial structures including the medial frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate, the posterior cingulate, and the precuneus (PREC) [5,6,7,8]

Summary

Introduction

Converging evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies has indicated that autism is a system-wide disorder with reduced synchronization of the time course of brain activation found in several tasks, such as language processing [1], working memory [2], executive functioning [3], and visual imagery [4]. Examining functional connectivity during a baseline resting state provides an opportunity to pool data across several studies, resulting in an unusually large sample size for a functional imaging analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate functional connectivity during rest in autism. We examine the relationship between functional connectivity during resting baseline and the size of the corpus callosum, a major component of anatomical connectivity

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