背景:自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种神经发育障碍,其特征是社交和沟通能力受损,狭隘的利益,和重复的行为。众所周知,小脑在控制运动和步态姿势中起着至关重要的作用。然而,最近,研究人员报告说,小脑也可能负责其他功能,比如社会认知,奖励,焦虑,语言,和执行功能。
方法:在本研究中,我们从ASD儿童的小脑小叶分析中确定了体积差异,ASD兄弟姐妹,通常发展健康的控制。在这项横断面研究中,总共招募了30名儿童,包括ASD儿童(N=15;平均年龄=27.67±5.1个月),ASD兄弟姐妹(N=6;平均年龄=17.5±3.79个月),并且通常发育中的儿童(N=9;平均年龄=17.67±3.21个月)。所有MRI数据都是在自然睡眠下获得的,没有使用任何镇静药物。我们对从这些儿童获得的体积数据以及发育和行为测量进行了相关分析。采用双因素方差分析和Pearson相关性进行统计学数据分析。
结果:我们从这项研究中观察到有趣的发现,包括多个小脑区域的灰质小叶体积显着增加,包括;疣,左右小叶I-V,右克鲁斯,右VIIb和VIIIb,分别,在患有ASD的儿童中,与通常发育中的健康对照和ASD兄弟姐妹相比。多个小脑小叶体积也与社会商数显着相关,认知,语言,ASD儿童的运动成绩,ASD兄弟姐妹,和健康的控制,分别。
结论:这项研究发现有助于我们了解ASD和ASD兄弟姐妹的神经生物学,并批判性地推进当前关于ASD小脑作用的知识。然而,在未来的纵向研究中,需要为更大的队列复制结果。
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social and communication skills, narrow interests, and repetitive behavior. It is known that the cerebellum plays a vital role in controlling movement and gait posture. However, recently, researchers have reported that the cerebellum may also be responsible for other functions, such as social cognition, reward, anxiety, language, and executive functions.
In this study, we ascertained volumetric differences from cerebellar lobular analysis from children with ASD, ASD siblings, and typically developing healthy controls. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 30 children were recruited, including children with ASD (N = 15; mean age = 27.67 ± 5.1 months), ASD siblings (N = 6; mean age = 17.5 ± 3.79 months), and typically developing children (N = 9; mean age = 17.67 ± 3.21 months). All the MRI data was acquired under natural sleep without using any sedative medication. We performed a correlation analysis with volumetric data and developmental and behavioral measures obtained from these children. Two-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation was performed for statistical data analysis.
We observed intriguing findings from this study, including significantly increased gray matter lobular volumes in multiple cerebellar regions including; vermis, left and right
lobule I-V, right CrusII, and right VIIb and VIIIb, respectively, in children with ASD, compared to typically developing healthy controls and ASD siblings. Multiple cerebellar lobular volumes were also significantly correlated with social quotient, cognition, language, and motor scores with children with ASD, ASD siblings, and healthy controls, respectively.
This research finding helps us understand the neurobiology of ASD and ASD-siblings, and critically advances current knowledge about the cerebellar role in ASD. However, results need to be replicated for a larger cohort from longitudinal research study in future.