Variations of the Functional Brain Network Efficiency in a Young Clinical Sample within the Autism Spectrum: A fNIRS Investigation.

Yanwei Li,Dongchuan Yu

doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.00067

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with dimensional behavioral symptoms and various damages in the structural and functional brain. Previous neuroimaging studies focused on exploring the differences of brain development between individuals with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, few of them have attempted to investigate the individual differences of the brain features among subjects within the Autism spectrum. Our main goal was to explore the individual differences of neurodevelopment in young children with Autism by testing for the association between the functional network efficiency and levels of autistic behaviors, as well as the association between the functional network efficiency and age. Forty-six children with Autism (ages 2.0–8.9 years old) participated in the current study, with levels of autistic behaviors evaluated by their parents. The network efficiency (global and local network efficiency) were obtained from the functional networks based on the oxy-, deoxy-, and total-Hemoglobin series, respectively. Results indicated that the network efficiency decreased with age in young children with Autism in the deoxy- and total-Hemoglobin-based-networks, and children with a relatively higher level of autistic behaviors showed decreased network efficiency in the oxy-hemoglobin-based network. Results suggest individual differences of brain development in young children within the Autism spectrum, providing new insights into the psychopathology of ASD.

Highlights

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder, is characterized by impaired social communication and social interaction, and restrictive interests and repetitive behaviors (APA, 2013)
We found that ASD with older age was related to more severe autistic symptoms, suggesting a sampling bias which was difficult to avoid during the recruitment of subjects
Consistent with those findings, the current study proved that the functional network efficiency of the oxy-hemoglobin-based topological network was a good biological index in describing the individual differences of autistic behavior for young ASDs

Summary

Introduction

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder, is characterized by impaired social communication and social interaction, and restrictive interests and repetitive behaviors (APA, 2013). As reviewed in Elsabbagh et al (2012), researchers estimated that the global prevalence of ASD is 62/10,000. They found that the prevalence of ASD has increased over time. In US, data reports from Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network suggest the estimated prevalence of eight-year-old children with ASD in 2012 was more than twice that of 2000 (CDC, 2014). Individual Differences of Network Efficiency in ASD at very young age, availability of services, and even greater public awareness (Elsabbagh et al, 2012; Rice et al, 2012; Hansen et al, 2015). ASD is a disorder of increasing attention from the public, education system, and medical care, and from the scientific community

Methods

Results

Conclusion