Mapping Progressive Gray Matter Alterations in Early Childhood Autistic Brain.

ABSTRACT: Autism spectrum disorder is an early-onset neurodevelopmental condition. This study aimed to investigate the progressive structural alterations in the autistic brain during early childhood. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were examined in a cross-sectional sample of 67 autistic children and 63 demographically matched typically developing (TD) children, aged 2-7 years. Voxel-based morphometry and a general linear model were used to ascertain the effects of diagnosis, age, and a diagnosis-by-age interaction on the gray matter volume. Causal structural covariance network analysis was performed to map the interregional influences of brain structural alterations with increasing age. The autism group showed spatially distributed increases in gray matter volume when controlling for ag

SUBMITTER: Guo X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7869087 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature