The neuroanatomy of autism spectrum disorder: An overview of structural neuroimaging findings and their translatability to the clinical setting

Autism

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 2017, Pages 18-28

  Ecker, Christine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL FRANKFURT   (Germany)

Author keywords

autism spectrum disorder; biomarker; brain anatomy; neurodevelopment; structural neuroimaging

Indexed keywords

BIOLOGICAL MARKER;

AMYGDALA; ANTERIOR CINGULATE; ANTERIOR INSULA; AUTISM; BRAIN DEVELOPMENT; BRAIN DISEASE; BRAIN SIZE; CEREBELLUM; CEREBROSPINAL FLUID; COGNITION; CONFERENCE PAPER; DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX; EARLY BRAIN OVERGROWTH; FRONTAL CORTEX; FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY; GRAY MATTER; HUMAN; MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX; NERVE CELL DIFFERENTIATION; NEUROANATOMY; NEUROBIOLOGY; NEUROIMAGING; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; PREDICTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEX DIFFERENCE; STRUCTURAL NEUROIMAGING; SUPERIOR TEMPORAL SULCUS; WHITE MATTER; BRAIN; DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING; GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND AGING; PATHOLOGY;

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER; BIOMARKERS; BRAIN; COGNITION; HUMANS; NEUROIMAGING;

EID: 85002772743     PISSN: 13623613     EISSN: 14617005     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1362361315627136     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (95)

1. Abrahams BS, Geschwind DH, (2008) Advances in autism genetics: on the threshold of a new neurobiology. Nature Reviews Genetics 9 (5): 341-355.
2. Amaral DG, Schumann CM, Nordahl CW, (2008) Neuroanatomy of autism. Trends in Neurosciences 31 (3): 137-145.
3. Anderson JS, Druzgal TJ, Froehlich A, et al. (2011) Decreased interhemispheric functional connectivity in autism. Cerebral Cortex 21 (5): 1134-1146.
4. Avino TA, Hutsler JJ, (2010) Abnormal cell patterning at the cortical gray-white matter boundary in autism spectrum disorders. Brain Research 1360: 138-146.
5. Baird G, Simonoff E, Pickles A, et al. (2006) Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP). The Lancet 368 (9531): 210-215.
6. Baron-Cohen S, (2002) The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6 (6): 248-254.
7. Baron-Cohen S, Auyeung B, Nørgaard-Pedersen B, et al. (2015) Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism. Molecular Psychiatry 20 (3): 369-376.
8. Baron-Cohen S, Lombardo MV, Auyeung B, et al. (2011) Why are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males? PLoS Biology 9 (6): e1001081.
9. Beacher FD, Minati L, Baron-Cohen S, et al. (2012) Autism attenuates sex differences in brain structure: a combined voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging study. American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) 33 (1): 83-89.
10. Betancur C, (2011) Etiological heterogeneity in autism spectrum disorders: more than 100 genetic and genomic disorders and still counting. Brain Research 1380: 42-77.
11. Blakemore S-J, (2008) The social brain in adolescence. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 (4): 267-277.
12. Bloss CS, Courchesne E, (2007) MRI neuroanatomy in young girls with autism: a preliminary study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 46 (4): 515-523.
13. Bölte S, Duketis E, Poustka F, et al. (2011) Sex differences in cognitive domains and their clinical correlates in higher-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice 15 (4): 497-511.
14. Buxhoeveden DP, Semendeferi K, Buckwalter J, et al. (2006) Reduced minicolumns in the frontal cortex of patients with autism. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 32 (5): 483-491.
15. Calderoni S, Retico A, Biagi L, et al. (2012) Female children with autism spectrum disorder: an insight from mass-univariate and pattern classification analyses. NeuroImage 59 (2): 1013-1022.
16. Carper RA, Moses P, Tigue ZD, et al. (2002) Cerebral lobes in autism: early hyperplasia and abnormal age effects. NeuroImage 16 (4): 1038-1051.
17. Casanova MF, (2014) Autism as a sequence: from heterochronic germinal cell divisions to abnormalities of cell migration and cortical dysplasias. Medical Hypotheses 83 (1): 32-38.
18. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Switala AE, et al. (2002) Minicolumnar pathology in autism. Neurology 58 (3): 428-432.
19. Casanova MF, van Kooten IAJ, Switala AE, et al. (2006) Minicolumnar abnormalities in autism. Acta Neuropathologica 112 (3): 287-303.
20. Castelli F, Frith C, Happé F, et al. (2002) Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 125 (Pt 8): 1839-1849.
21. Chaste P, Klei L, Sanders SJ, et al. (2013) Adjusting head circumference for covariates in autism: clinical correlates of a highly heritable continuous trait. Biological Psychiatry 74 (8): 576-584.
22. Courchesne E, (2002) Abnormal early brain development in autism. Molecular Psychiatry 7 (Suppl. 2): S21-S23.
23. Courchesne E, Karns CM, Davis HR, et al. (2001) Unusual brain growth patterns in early life in patients with autistic disorder: an MRI study. Neurology 57 (2): 245-254.
24. Courchesne E, Mouton PR, Calhoun ME, et al. (2011) Neuron number and size in prefrontal cortex of children with autism. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) 306 (18): 2001-2010.
25. Coutanche MN, Thompson-Schill SL, Schultz RT, (2011) Multi-voxel pattern analysis of fMRI data predicts clinical symptom severity. NeuroImage 57 (1): 113-123.
26. Daymont C, Hwang W-T, Feudtner C, et al. (2010) Head-circumference distribution in a large primary care network differs from CDC and WHO curves. Pediatrics 126 (4): e836-e842.
27. Duchesnay E, Cachia A, Boddaert N, et al. (2011) Feature selection and classification of imbalanced datasets: application to PET images of children with autistic spectrum disorders. NeuroImage 57 (3): 1003-1014.
28. Dworzynski K, Ronald A, Bolton P, et al. (2012) How different are girls and boys above and below the diagnostic threshold for autism spectrum disorders? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 51 (8): 788-797.
29. Ecker C, Ginestet C, Feng Y, et al. (2013a) Brain surface anatomy in adults with autism: the relationship between surface area, cortical thickness, and autistic symptoms. JAMA Psychiatry 70 (1): 59-70.
30. Ecker C, Rocha-Rego V, Johnston P, et al. (2010a) Investigating the predictive value of whole-brain structural MR scans in autism: a pattern classification approach. NeuroImage 49 (1): 44-56.
31. Ecker C, Marquand A, Mourão-Miranda J, et al. (2010b) Describing the brain in autism in five dimensions-magnetic resonance imaging-assisted diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder using a multiparameter classification approach. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 30 (32): 10612-10623.
32. Ecker C, Shahidiani A, Feng Y, et al. (2014) The effect of age, diagnosis, and their interaction on vertex-based measures of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neural Transmission 121 (9): 1157-1170.
33. Ecker C, Spooren W, Murphy DGM, (2013b) Translational approaches to the biology of Autism: false dawn or a new era? Molecular Psychiatry 18 (4): 435-442.
34. Ecker C, Spooren W, Murphy DGM, (2013c) Developing new pharmacotherapies for autism. Journal of Internal Medicine 274 (4): 308-320.
35. Filová B, Ostatníková D, Celec P, et al. (2013) The effect of testosterone on the formation of brain structures. Cells, Tissues, Organs 197 (3): 169-177.
36. Fombonne E, (2005) Epidemiology of autistic disorder and other pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 66 (Suppl. 10): 3-8.
37. Geschwind DH, Rakic P, (2013) Cortical evolution: judge the brain by its cover. Neuron 80 (3): 633-647.
38. Golarai G, Grill-Spector K, Reiss AL, (2006) Autism and the development of face processing. Clinical Neuroscience Research 6 (3): 145-160.
39. Hallmayer J, Cleveland S, Torres A, et al. (2011) Genetic heritability and shared environmental factors among twin pairs with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry 68 (11): 1095-1102.
40. Hazlett HC, Poe M, Gerig G, et al. (2005) Magnetic resonance imaging and head circumference study of brain size in autism: birth through age 2 years. Archives of General Psychiatry 62 (12): 1366-1376.
41. Hazlett HC, Poe MD, Gerig G, et al. (2011) Early brain overgrowth in autism associated with an increase in cortical surface area before age 2 years. Archives of General Psychiatry 68 (5): 467-476.
42. Herbert MR, Ziegler DA, Makris N, et al. (2004) Localization of white matter volume increase in autism and developmental language disorder. Annals of Neurology 55 (4): 530-540.
43. Hoeft F, Walter E, Lightbody AA, et al. (2011) Neuroanatomical differences in toddler boys with fragile x syndrome and idiopathic autism. Archives of General Psychiatry 68 (3): 295-305.
44. Horton JC, Adams DL, (2005) The cortical column: a structure without a function. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 360 (1456): 837-862.
45. Iidaka T, (2015) Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and neural network classified autism and control. Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior 63: 55-67.
46. Ingalhalikar M, Parker D, Bloy L, et al. (2011) Diffusion based abnormality markers of pathology: toward learned diagnostic prediction of ASD. NeuroImage 57 (3): 918-927.
47. Jiao Y, Chen R, Ke X, et al. (2010) Predictive models of autism spectrum disorder based on brain regional cortical thickness. NeuroImage 50 (2): 589-599.
48. Klöppel S, Abdulkadir A, Jack CR, et al. (2012) Diagnostic neuroimaging across diseases. NeuroImage 61 (2): 457-463.
49. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Auyeung B, et al. (2015) Sex/gender differences and autism: setting the scene for future research. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 54 (1): 11-24.
50. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Pasco G, et al. (2011) A behavioral comparison of male and female adults with high functioning autism spectrum conditions. PLoS ONE 6 (6): e20835.
51. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Ruigrok ANV, et al. (2012) Cognition in males and females with autism: similarities and differences. PLoS ONE 7 (10): e47198.
52. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Suckling J, et al. (2013) Biological sex affects the neurobiology of autism. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 136 (Pt 9): 2799-2815.
53. Lainhart JE, Bigler ED, Bocian M, et al. (2006) Head circumference and height in autism: a study by the Collaborative Program of Excellence in Autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics: Part A 140 (21): 2257-2274.
54. Lainhart JE, Piven J, Wzorek M, et al. (1997) Macrocephaly in children and adults with autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36 (2): 282-290.
55. Lange N, Dubray MB, Lee JE, et al. (2010) Atypical diffusion tensor hemispheric asymmetry in autism. Autism Research: Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research 3 (6): 350-358.
56. Lange N, Travers BG, Bigler ED, et al. (2015) Longitudinal volumetric brain changes in autism spectrum disorder ages 6-35 years. Autism Research: Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research 8 (1): 82-93.
57. Langen M, Bos D, Noordermeer SDS, et al. (2014) Changes in the development of striatum are involved in repetitive behavior in autism. Biological Psychiatry 76 (5): 405-411.
58. Langen M, Durston S, Staal WG, et al. (2007) Caudate nucleus is enlarged in high-functioning medication-naive subjects with autism. Biological Psychiatry 62 (3): 262-266.
59. Lefebvre A, Beggiato A, Bourgeron T, et al. (2015) Neuroanatomical diversity of corpus callosum and brain volume in autism: meta-analysis, analysis of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (Abide) project, and simulation. Biological Psychiatry 78 (2): 126-134.
60. Lim L, Marquand A, Cubillo AA, et al. (2013) Disorder-specific predictive classification of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) relative to autism using structural magnetic resonance imaging. PLoS ONE 8 (5): e63660.
61. Lombardo MV, Chakrabarti B, Bullmore ET, et al. (2010) Atypical neural self-representation in autism. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 133 (Pt 2): 611-624.
62. Lord C, Risi S, Lambrecht L, et al. (2000) The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: a standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 30 (3): 205-223.
63. Lord C, Rutter M, Le Couteur A, (1994) Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised: a revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 24 (5): 659-685.
64. McKavanagh R, Buckley E, Chance SA, (2015) Wider minicolumns in autism: a neural basis for altered processing? Brain: A Journal of Neurology 138 (Pt 7): 2034-2045.
65. Mandy W, Chilvers R, Chowdhury U, et al. (2012) Sex differences in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from a large sample of children and adolescents. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 42 (7): 1304-1313.
66. Marquand AF, Filippone M, Ashburner J, et al. (2013) Automated, high accuracy classification of parkinsonian disorders: a pattern recognition approach. PLoS ONE 8 (7): e69237.
67. Nordahl CW, Scholz R, Yang X, et al. (2012) Increased rate of amygdala growth in children aged 2 to 4 years with autism spectrum disorders: a longitudinal study. Archives of General Psychiatry 69 (1): 53-61.
68. Pauls DL, Abramovitch A, Rauch SL, et al. (2014) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: an integrative genetic and neurobiological perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 15 (6): 410-424.
69. Pelphrey KA, Mitchell TV, McKeown MJ, et al. (2003) Brain activity evoked by the perception of human walking: controlling for meaningful coherent motion. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 23 (17): 6819-6825.
70. Philip RCM, Dauvermann MR, Whalley HC, et al. (2012) A systematic review and meta-analysis of the fMRI investigation of autism spectrum disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36 (2): 901-942.
71. Pringle B, Colpe LJ, Blumberg SJ, et al. (2012) Diagnostic history and treatment of school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder and special health care needs. NCHS data brief 97, pp. 1-8. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db97.pdf
72. Rakic P, (1995) A small step for the cell, a giant leap for mankind: a hypothesis of neocortical expansion during evolution. Trends in Neurosciences 18 (9): 383-388.
73. Rakic P, (2009) Evolution of the neocortex: a perspective from developmental biology. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10 (10): 724-735.
74. Raznahan A, Wallace GL, Antezana L, et al. (2013) Compared to what? Early brain overgrowth in autism and the perils of population norms. Biological Psychiatry 74 (8): 563-575.
75. Ring H, Woodbury-Smith M, Watson P, et al. (2008) Clinical heterogeneity among people with high functioning autism spectrum conditions: evidence favouring a continuous severity gradient. Behavioral and Brain Functions (BBF) 4: 11.
76. Sato JR, Hoexter MQ, Oliveira PP, et al. (2013) Inter-regional cortical thickness correlations are associated with autistic symptoms: a machine-learning approach. Journal of Psychiatric Research 47 (4): 453-459.
77. Schaer M, Kochalka J, Padmanabhan A, et al. (2015) Sex differences in cortical volume and gyrification in autism. Molecular Autism 6: 42.
78. Schumann CM, Barnes CC, Lord C, et al. (2009) Amygdala enlargement in toddlers with autism related to severity of social and communication impairments. Biological Psychiatry 66 (10): 942-949.
79. Schumann CM, Bloss CS, Barnes CC, et al. (2010) Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study of cortical development through early childhood in autism. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 30 (12): 4419-4427.
80. Shen MD, Nordahl CW, Young GS, et al. (2013) Early brain enlargement and elevated extra-axial fluid in infants who develop autism spectrum disorder. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 136 (Pt 9): 2825-2835.
81. Simonoff E, Pickles A, Charman T, et al. (2008) Psychiatric disorders in children with autism spectrum disorders: prevalence, comorbidity, and associated factors in a population-derived sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 47 (8): 921-929.
82. Solomon M, Miller M, Taylor SL, et al. (2012) Autism symptoms and internalizing psychopathology in girls and boys with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 42 (1): 48-59.
83. Sparks BF, Friedman SD, Shaw DW, et al. (2002) Brain structural abnormalities in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Neurology 59 (2): 184-192.
84. Steinmetz H, Staiger JF, Schlaug SG, et al. (1996) Inverse relationship between brain size and callosal connectivity. Die Naturwissenschaften 83 (5): 221.
85. Szatmari P, Liu X-Q, Goldberg J, et al. (2012) Sex differences in repetitive stereotyped behaviors in autism: implications for genetic liability. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics: The Official Publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics 159B (1): 5-12.
86. Uddin LQ, Menon V, Young CB, et al. (2011) Multivariate searchlight classification of structural magnetic resonance imaging in children and adolescents with autism. Biological Psychiatry 70 (9): 833-841.
87. Via E, Radua J, Cardoner N, et al. (2011) Meta-analysis of gray matter abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder: should Asperger disorder be subsumed under a broader umbrella of autistic spectrum disorder? Archives of General Psychiatry 68 (4): 409-418.
88. Wallace GL, Dankner N, Kenworthy L, et al. (2010) Age-related temporal and parietal cortical thinning in autism spectrum disorders. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 133 (Pt 12): 3745-3754.
89. Wee C-Y, Wang L, Shi F, et al. (2014) Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders using regional and interregional morphological features. Human Brain Mapping 35 (7): 3414-3430.
90. Werling DM, Geschwind DH, (2013) Sex differences in autism spectrum disorders. Current Opinion in Neurology 26 (2): 146-153.
91. Wing L, (1997) The autistic spectrum. The Lancet 350 (9093): 1761-1766.
92. Wolff JJ, Gerig G, Lewis JD, et al. (2015) Altered corpus callosum morphology associated with autism over the first 2 years of life. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 138 (Pt 7): 2046-2058.
93. Wolff JJ, Gu H, Gerig G, et al. (2012) Differences in white matter fiber tract development present from 6 to 24 months in infants with autism. American Journal of Psychiatry 169 (6): 589-600.
94. Zwaigenbaum L, Bryson SE, Szatmari P, et al. (2012) Sex differences in children with autism spectrum disorder identified within a high-risk infant cohort. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 42 (12): 2585-2596.
95. Zwaigenbaum L, Young GS, Stone WL, et al. (2014) Early head growth in infants at risk of autism: a baby siblings research consortium study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 53 (10): 1053-1062.