Abstract
BackgroundAutism is hypothesized to represent a disorder of brain connectivity, yet patterns of atypical functional connectivity show marked heterogeneity across individuals.MethodsWe used a large multi-site dataset comprised of a heterogeneous population of individuals with autism and typically developing individuals to compare a number of resting-state functional connectivity features of autism. These features were also tested in a single site sample that utilized a high-temporal resolution, long-duration resting-state acquisition technique.ResultsNo one method of analysis provided reproducible results across research sites, combined samples, and the high-resolution dataset. Distinct categories of functional connectivity features that differed in autism such as homotopic, default network, salience network, long-range connections, and corticostriatal connectivity, did not align with differences in clinical and behavioral traits in individuals with autism. One method, lag-based functional connectivity, was not correlated to other methods in describing patterns of resting-state functional connectivity and their relationship to autism traits.ConclusionOverall, functional connectivity features predictive of autism demonstrated limited generalizability across sites, with consistent results only for large samples. Different types of functional connectivity features do not consistently predict different symptoms of autism. Rather, specific features that predict autism symptoms are distributed across feature types.
Highlights
Atypical resting-state functional connectivity has been proposed as a metric for the pathophysiology of autism [1, 2]
3) To what extent do distinct functional connectivity features track together in the same participants, or do different features represent different aspects or endophenotypes of autism?. We present these findings across individual research sites included in the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset, the combined ABIDE I data release, the combined ABIDE II data release, and the full ABIDE data sample
The current study includes a replication sample (Utah cohort) that consisted of 52 males with autism and 38 control males with high-temporal resolution and long duration resting-state scan data acquired as part of a larger longitudinal study of autism aimed at investigating brain development across the adolescent and adult lifespan
Summary
Atypical resting-state functional connectivity has been proposed as a metric for the pathophysiology of autism [1, 2]. There is no consensus on what types of brain connections are abnormal beyond idiosyncratic or atypical connectivity compared to typical development, or how. Many of these approaches describe patterns of underor over-connectivity, in autism compared to controls, between multiple brain regions or networks including corticostriatal [3,4,5,6,7,8], thalamocortical regions [4, 9], and default mode and salience networks [3, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. Autism is hypothesized to represent a disorder of brain connectivity, yet patterns of atypical functional connectivity show marked heterogeneity across individuals
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