Imaging-genetics of sex differences in ASD: distinct effects of OXTR variants on brain connectivity.

ABSTRACT: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is more prevalent in males than in females, but the neurobiological mechanisms that give rise to this sex-bias are poorly understood. The female protective hypothesis suggests that the manifestation of ASD in females requires higher cumulative genetic and environmental risk relative to males. Here, we test this hypothesis by assessing the additive impact of several ASD-associated OXTR variants on reward network resting-state functional connectivity in males and females with and without ASD, and explore how genotype, sex, and diagnosis relate to heterogeneity in neuroendophenotypes. Females with ASD who carried a greater number of ASD-associated risk alleles in the OXTR gene showed greater functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens (NAcc; hub of the

SUBMITTER: Hernandez LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7054353 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature