Corticospinal tract anatomy and functional connectivity of primary motor cortex in autism.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Growing evidence indicates that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) stems from abnormal structural and functional connectivity of neural networks. Although diagnostic symptoms are sociocommunicative, motor-related functions (beyond repetitive mannerisms) are also impaired. However, evidence on connectivity at the level of basic motor execution is limited, which we address here.

Method

We compared right-handed children and adolescents (aged 7-18 years) with ASD (n = 44) to matched typically developing participants (TD, n = 36) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Diffusion-weighted imaging and probabilistic tractography measured microstructure of the corticospinal tract (CST). Intrinsic functional connectivity MRI examined whole-brain voxelwise correlations, both with

SUBMITTER: Carper RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4697829 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature