Excitatory/inhibitory imbalance in autism: the role of glutamate and GABA gene-sets in symptoms and cortical brain structure.

ABSTRACT: The excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) imbalance hypothesis posits that imbalance between excitatory (glutamatergic) and inhibitory (GABAergic) mechanisms underlies the behavioral characteristics of autism. However, how E/I imbalance arises and how it may differ across autism symptomatology and brain regions is not well understood. We used innovative analysis methods-combining competitive gene-set analysis and gene-expression profiles in relation to cortical thickness (CT) to investigate relationships between genetic variance, brain structure and autism symptomatology of participants from the AIMS-2-TRIALS LEAP cohort (autism = 359, male/female = 258/101; neurotypical control participants = 279, male/female = 178/101) aged 6-30 years. Using competitive gene-set analyses, we investigated whether a

SUBMITTER: Hollestein V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9867712 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature