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Oblong LM, Llera A, Mei T, Haak K, Isakoglou C, Floris DL, Durston S, Moessnang C, Banaschewski T, Baron-Cohen S, Loth E, Dell'Acqua F, Charman T, Murphy DGM, Ecker C, Buitelaar JK, Beckmann CF, Forde NJ. Linking functional and structural brain organisation with behaviour in autism: a multimodal EU-AIMS Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP) study. Mol Autism 2023; 14:32. [PMID: 37653516 PMCID: PMC10472578 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-023-00564-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging analyses of brain structure and function in autism have typically been conducted in isolation, missing the sensitivity gains of linking data across modalities. Here we focus on the integration of structural and functional organisational properties of brain regions. We aim to identify novel brain-organisation phenotypes of autism. We utilised multimodal MRI (T1-, diffusion-weighted and resting state functional), behavioural and clinical data from the EU AIMS Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP) from autistic (n = 206) and non-autistic (n = 196) participants. Of these, 97 had data from 2 timepoints resulting in a total scan number of 466. Grey matter density maps, probabilistic tractography connectivity matrices and connectopic maps were extracted from respective MRI modalities and were then integrated with Linked Independent Component Analysis. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the relationship between components and group while accounting for covariates and non-independence of participants with longitudinal data. Additional models were run to investigate associations with dimensional measures of behaviour. We identified one component that differed significantly between groups (coefficient = 0.33, padj = 0.02). This was driven (99%) by variance of the right fusiform gyrus connectopic map 2. While there were multiple nominal (uncorrected p < 0.05) associations with behavioural measures, none were significant following multiple comparison correction. Our analysis considered the relative contributions of both structural and functional brain phenotypes simultaneously, finding that functional phenotypes drive associations with autism. These findings expanded on previous unimodal studies by revealing the topographic organisation of functional connectivity patterns specific to autism and warrant further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lennart M Oblong
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Alberto Llera
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ting Mei
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Koen Haak
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Christina Isakoglou
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Dorothea L Floris
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Methods of Plasticity Research, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Durston
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Carolin Moessnang
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Eva Loth
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Flavio Dell'Acqua
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Tony Charman
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Declan G M Murphy
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Christine Ecker
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jan K Buitelaar
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Christian F Beckmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Natalie J Forde
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Dawson G, Rieder AD, Johnson MH. Prediction of autism in infants: progress and challenges. Lancet Neurol 2023; 22:244-254. [PMID: 36427512 PMCID: PMC10100853 DOI: 10.1016/s1474-4422(22)00407-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Revised: 09/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (henceforth autism) is a neurodevelopmental condition that can be reliably diagnosed in children by age 18-24 months. Prospective longitudinal studies of infants aged 1 year and younger who are later diagnosed with autism are elucidating the early developmental course of autism and identifying ways of predicting autism before diagnosis is possible. Studies that use MRI, EEG, and near-infrared spectroscopy have identified differences in brain development in infants later diagnosed with autism compared with infants without autism. Retrospective studies of infants younger than 1 year who received a later diagnosis of autism have also showed an increased prevalence of health conditions, such as sleep disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, and vision problems. Behavioural features of infants later diagnosed with autism include differences in attention, vocalisations, gestures, affect, temperament, social engagement, sensory processing, and motor abilities. Although research findings offer insight on promising screening approaches for predicting autism in infants, individual-level predictions remain a future goal. Multiple scientific challenges and ethical questions remain to be addressed to translate research on early brain-based and behavioural predictors of autism into feasible and reliable screening tools for clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geraldine Dawson
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
| | - Amber D Rieder
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA; Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Mark H Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
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Mundy P, Bullen J. The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism. Front Psychiatry 2022; 12:752274. [PMID: 35173636 PMCID: PMC8841840 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.752274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these early social attention symptoms and hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in their development. One model emphasizes mechanism involved in the spontaneous allocation of attention to faces, or social orienting. Alternatively, another model emphasizes mechanisms involved in the coordination of attention with other people, or joint attention, and the socially bi-directional nature of its development. This model raises the possibility that atypical responses of children to the attention or the gaze of a social partner directed toward themselves may be as important in the development of social attention symptoms as differences in the development of social orienting. Another model holds that symptoms of social attention may be important to early development, but may not impact older individuals with ASD. The alterative model is that the social attention symptoms in infancy (social orienting and joint attention), and social cognitive symptoms in childhood and adulthood share common neurodevelopmental substrates. Therefore, differences in early social attention and later social cognition constitute a developmentally continuous axis of symptom presentation in ASD. However, symptoms in older individuals may be best measured with in vivo measures of efficiency of social attention and social cognition in social interactions rather than the accuracy of response on analog tests used in measures with younger children. Finally, a third model suggests that the social attention symptoms may not truly be a symptom of ASD. Rather, they may be best conceptualized as stemming from differences domain general attention and motivation mechanisms. The alternative argued for here that infant social attention symptoms meet all the criteria of a unique dimension of the phenotype of ASD and the bi-directional phenomena involved in social attention cannot be fully explained in terms of domain general aspects of attention development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Mundy
- Department of Learning and Mind Sciences, School of Education, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and The MIND Institute, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States
| | - Jenifer Bullen
- Department of Human Development, School of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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Guy MW, Richards JE, Hogan AL, Roberts JE. Neural Correlates of Infant Face Processing and Later Emerging Autism Symptoms in Fragile X Syndrome. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:716642. [PMID: 34899412 PMCID: PMC8651978 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.716642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading known genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with 60-74% of males with FXS meeting diagnostic criteria for ASD. Infants with FXS have demonstrated atypical neural responses during face processing that are unique from both typically developing, low-risk infants and infants at high familial risk for ASD (i.e., infants siblings of children with ASD). In the current study, event-related potential (ERP) responses during face processing measured at 12 months of age were examined in relation to ASD symptoms measured at ~48 months of age in participants with FXS, as well as siblings of children with ASD and low-risk control participants. Results revealed that greater amplitude N290 responses in infancy were associated with more severe ASD symptoms in childhood in FXS and in siblings of children with ASD. This pattern of results was not observed for low-risk control participants. Reduced Nc amplitude was associated with more severe ASD symptoms in participants with FXS but was not observed in the other groups. This is the first study to examine ASD symptoms in childhood in relation to infant ERP responses in FXS. Results indicate that infant ERP responses may be predictive of later symptoms of ASD in FXS and the presence of both common and unique pathways to ASD in etiologically-distinct high-risk groups is supported (i.e., syndromic risk vs. familial risk).
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggie W. Guy
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - John E. Richards
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Abigail L. Hogan
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Jane E. Roberts
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
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