Autism attenuates sex differences in brain structure: A combined voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging study

American Journal of Neuroradiology

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 83-89

  Beacher, F D ^a,b   Minati, Ludovico ^a,c   Baron Cohen, S ^d   Lombardo, M V ^d   Lai, M C ^d   Gray, M A ^a,e   Harrison, N A ^a,f,g   Critchley, H D ^a,f,g  

^a BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX MEDICAL SCHOOL   (United Kingdom)

^b St Francis Hospital The Heart Center   (United States)

^c DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSURGERY   (Italy)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^e MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^f SUSSEX PARTNERSHIP NHS FOUNDATION TRUST   (United Kingdom)

^g Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; AUTISM; BRAIN; CLINICAL ARTICLE; CONTROLLED STUDY; CORPUS CALLOSUM; DIFFUSION TENSOR IMAGING; FEMALE; GRAY MATTER; HUMAN; MALE; NEUROANATOMY; NEUROIMAGING; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SCANNER; PARIETAL LOBE; SEX DIFFERENCE; STRUCTURAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; VOXEL BASED MORPHOMETRY; WHITE MATTER;

ADULT; ALGORITHMS; AUTISTIC DISORDER; BRAIN; DIFFUSION MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; FEMALE; HUMANS; IMAGE ENHANCEMENT; IMAGE INTERPRETATION, COMPUTER-ASSISTED; IMAGING, THREE-DIMENSIONAL; MALE; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY; SEX FACTORS;

EID: 84856111306     PISSN: 01956108     EISSN: 1936959X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.A2880     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Baron-Cohen S, Scott FJ, Allison C, et al. Prevalence of autism-spectrum conditions: UK school-based population study. Br J Psychiatry 2009;194:500-09
2. Baron-Cohen S. Autism: the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2009;1156:68-80
3. Baron-Cohen S, Richler J, Bisarya D, et al. The systemizing quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2003;358:361-74 (Pubitemid 36257608)
4. Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S. The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. J Autism Dev Disord 2004;34:163-75 (Pubitemid 39023470)
5. Baron-Cohen S. Testing the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism: let the data speak for themselves. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2005;10:77-81
6. Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S, Ashwin E, et al. Fetal testosterone predicts sexually differentiated childhood behavior in girls and in boys. Psychol Sci 2009;20:144-48
7. Baird G, Simonoff E, Pickles A, et al. Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP). Lancet 2006;368:210-15 (Pubitemid 44037796)
8. Baron-Cohen S, Knickmeyer RC, Belmonte MK. Sex differences in the brain: implications for explaining autism. Science 2005;310:819-23 (Pubitemid 41567334)
9. Wheelwright S, Baron-Cohen S, Goldenfeld N, et al. Predicting Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) from the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (SQ-R) and Empathy Quotient (EQ). Brain Res 2006;1079:47-56
10. Cosgrove KP, Mazure CM, Staley JK. Evolving knowledge of sex differences in brain structure, function, and chemistry. Biol Psychiatry 2007;62:847-55 (Pubitemid 47488220)
11. Allen JS, Damasio H, Grabowski TJ, et al. Sexual dimorphism and asymmetries in the gray-white composition of the human cerebrum. Neuroimage 2003;18:880-94 (Pubitemid 36513462)
12. Luders E, Narr KL, Thompson PM, et al. Mapping cortical gray matter in the young adult brain: effects of gender. Neuroimage 2005;26:493-501 (Pubitemid 40719827)
13. Good CD, Johnsrude I, Ashburner J, et al. Cerebral asymmetry and the effects of sex and handedness on brain structure: a voxel-based morphometric analysis of 465 normal adult human brains. Neuroimage 2001;14:685-700 (Pubitemid 32801715)
14. Chen X, Sachdev PS, Wen W, et al. Sex differences in regional gray matter in healthy individuals aged 44-48 years: a voxel-based morphometric study. Neuroimage 2007;36:691-9 (Pubitemid 46907644)
15. Huster RJ, Westerhausen R, Kreuder F, et al. Hemispheric and gender related differences in the midcingulum bundle: a DTI study. Hum Brain Mapp 2009;30:383-91
16. Menzler K, Belke M, Wehrmann E, et al. Men and women are different: diffusion tensor imaging reveals sexual dimorphism in the microstructure of the thalamus, corpus callosum and cingulum. Neuroimage 2011;54:2557-62
17. Westerhausen R, Kompus K, Dramsdahl M, et al. A critical re-examination of sexual dimorphism in the corpus callosum microstructure. Neuroimage 2011;56:874-80
18. Amaral DG, Schumann CM, Nordahl CW. Neuroanatomy of autism. Trends Neurosci 2008;31:137-45
19. Courchesne E, Pierce K.Whythe frontal cortex in autism might be talking only to itself: local over-connectivity but long-distance disconnection. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2005;15:225-30 (Pubitemid 41569273)
20. Courchesne E, Pierce K, Schumann CM, et al. Mapping early brain development in autism. Neuron 2007;56:399-413
21. Geschwind DH, Levitt P. Autism spectrum disorders: developmental disconnection syndromes. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2007;17:103-11 (Pubitemid 46237744)
22. McAlonan GM, Cheung V, Cheung C, et al. Mapping the brain in autism: a voxel-based MRI study of volumetric differences and intercorrelations in autism. Brain 2005;128:268-76 (Pubitemid 40222596)
23. Rojas DC, Peterson E, Winterrowd E, et al. Regional grey matter volumetric changes in autism associated with social and repetitive behavior symptoms. BMC Psychiatry 2006;6:56
24. Waiter GD, Williams JH, Murray AD, et al. A voxel-based investigation of brain structure in male adolescents with autistic spectrum disorder. Neuroimage 2004;22:619-25 (Pubitemid 38759424)
25. Ecker C, Rocha-Rego V, Johnston P, et al. Investigating the predictive value of whole-brain structural MR scans in autism: a pattern classification approach. Neuroimage 2010;49:44-56
26. Sparks BF, Friedman SD, Shaw DW, et al. Brain structural abnormalities in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Neurology 2002;59:184-92 (Pubitemid 34779175)
27. Kates WR, Burnette CP, Eliez S, et al. Neuroanatomic variation in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for the narrow phenotype for autism. Am J Psychiatry 2004;161:539-46 (Pubitemid 38326110)
28. Pierce K, Muller RA, Ambrose J, et al. Face processing occurs outside the fusiform 'face area' in autism: evidence from functional MRI. Brain 2001; 124:2059-73 (Pubitemid 32945904)
29. Baron-Cohen S, Belmonte MK. Autism: a window onto the development of the social and the analytic brain. Annu Rev Neurosci 2005;28:109-26 (Pubitemid 41098901)
30. Just MA, Cherkassky VL, Keller TA, et al. Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: evidence of underconnectivity. Brain 2004;127:1811-21 (Pubitemid 39061557)
31. Minshew NJ, Keller TA. The nature of brain dysfunction in autism: functional brain imaging studies. Curr Opin Neurol 2010;23:124-30
32. Alexander AL, Lee JE, Lazar M, et al. Diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum in autism. Neuroimage 2007;34:61-73 (Pubitemid 44765248)
33. Keller TA, Kana RK, Just MA. A developmental study of the structural integrity of white matter in autism. Neuroreport 2007;18:23-27 (Pubitemid 46183384)
34. Sundaram SK, Kumar A, Makki MI, et al. Diffusion tensor imaging of frontal lobe in autism spectrum disorder. Cereb Cortex 2008;18:2659-65
35. Lee JE, Bigler ED, Alexander AL, et al. Diffusion tensor imaging of white matter in the superior temporal gyrus and temporal stem in autism. Neurosci Lett 2007;424:127-32 (Pubitemid 47285507)
36. Thakkar KN, Polli FE, Joseph RM, et al. Response monitoring, repetitive behaviour and anterior cingulate abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Brain 2008;131:(pt 9):2464-78
37. Catani M, Jones DK, Daly E, et al. Altered cerebellar feedback projections in Asperger syndrome. Neuroimage 2008;41:1184-91
38. Bloss CS, Courchesne E. MRI neuroanatomy in young girls with autism: a preliminary study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2007;46:515-23 (Pubitemid 46622761)
39. Schumann CM, Bloss CS, Barnes CC, et al. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study of cortical development through early childhood in autism. J Neurosci 2010;30:4419-27
40. Wing L, Leekam SR, Libby SJ, et al. The diagnostic interview for social and communication disorders: background, inter-rater reliability and clinical use. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2002;43:307-25 (Pubitemid 36939220)
41. Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Skinner R, et al. The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. J Autism Dev Disord 2001;31:5-17
42. Nelson HE. National Adult Reading Test: Test Manual. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: NFER-Nelson; 1982
43. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Computing average shaped tissue probability templates. Neuroimage 2009;45:333-41
44. Frederikse ME, Lu A, Aylward E, et al. Sex differences in the inferior parietal lobule. Cereb Cortex 1999;9:896-901 (Pubitemid 30004601)
45. Schwarz E, Guest PC, Rahmoune H, et al. Sex-specific serum biomarker patterns in adults with Asperger's syndrome. Mol Psychiatry 2011;16:1213-20
46. Hines M, Golombok S, Rust J, et al. Testosterone during pregnancy and sex role behavior of preschool children: a longitudinal, population study. Child Dev 2002;73:1678-87
47. Whitehouse AJ, Maybery MT, Hart R, et al. Fetal androgen exposure and pragmatic language ability of girls in middle childhood: implications for the extreme male-brain theory of autism. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2010;35:1259-64
48. Skuse DH. X-linked genes and mental functioning. Hum Mol Genet 2005;14:27-32
49. Minati L, Weglarz WP. Physical foundations, models and methods of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging of the brain: a review. Conc Magn Reson A 2007;30:278-307
50. Paul LK, Brown WS, Adolphs R, et al. Agenesis of the corpus callosum: genetic, developmental and functional aspects of connectivity. Nat Rev Neurosci 2007;8:287-99 (Pubitemid 46452323)
51. Phillips ML, Drevets WC, Rauch SL, et al. Neurobiology of emotion perception. I. The neural basis of normal emotion perception. Biol Psychiatry 2003;54:504-14 (Pubitemid 37289437)
52. Vogt BA. Pain and emotion interactions in subregions of the cingulate gyrus. Nat Rev Neurosci 2005;6:533-44 (Pubitemid 40942820)
53. Haber SN, Calzavara R. The cortico-basal ganglia integrative network: the role of the thalamus. Brain Res Bull 2009;78:69-74
54. Briggs F, Usrey WM. Emerging views of corticothalamic function. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2008;18:403-07
55. Makris N, Kennedy DN, McInerney S, et al. Segmentation of subcomponents within the superior longitudinal fascicle in humans: a quantitative, in vivo, DT-MRI study. Cereb Cortex 2005;15:854-69. Epub 2004 Dec 8