Atypical Functional Covariance Connectivity Between Gray and White Matter in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Autistic kids show weaker gray-white matter teamwork, and the gap size lines up with how much they hand-flap or rock.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chen et al. (2021) scanned kids with and without autism. They looked at how gray matter and white matter move together while the child rests.
The team wanted to see if this gray-white teamwork differs in autism and if the difference links to repetitive behaviors.
What they found
Kids with autism showed a weaker link between gray and white matter growth. The weaker the link, the more stereotypy parents saw at home.
This pattern gives a possible brain marker for repetitive movements.
How this fits with other research
Capio et al. (2013) first showed that white matter in autism fails to mature with age. Heng adds that the gray-white dance is also off beat.
Fitzgerald et al. (2019) found widespread white-matter damage in autism. Heng tightens the story: the damage is tied to stereotypy when viewed with gray matter.
Qian et al. (2018) tracked toddlers for two years and saw white-matter hubs shift slowly. Heng’s snapshot of older kids fits this slow drift, showing the same gray-white mismatch.
Why it matters
You can’t scan every client, but you can remember that repetitive behaviors have a brain signature. When stereotypy is strong, think about hidden white-matter needs. Target motor planning and sensory routines that may calm the underlying network.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder with atypical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) functional developmental course. However, the functional co-developmental pattern between GM and WM in ASD is unclear. Here, we utilized a functional covariance connectivity method to explore the concordance pattern between GM and WM function in individuals with ASD. A multi-center resting-state fMRI dataset composed of 105 male children with ASD and 102 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) from six sites of the ABIDE dataset was utilized. GM and WM ALFF maps were calculated for each subject. Voxel by voxel functional covariance connectivity of the ALFF values across subjects was calculated between GM and WM for children with ASD and HCs. A Z-test combining FDR multi-comparison correction was then employed to determine whether the functional covariance is significantly different between the two groups. A "bundling" strategy was utilized to ensure that the GM/WM clusters showing atypical functional covariance were larger than 5 voxels. Finally, canonical correlation analysis was conducted to explore whether the atypical GM/WM functional covariance is related to ASD symptoms. Results showed atypical functional covariance connections between specific GM and WM regions, whereas the ALFF values of these regions indicated no significant difference between the two groups. Canonical correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between the atypical functional covariance and stereotyped behaviors of ASD. The results indicated an altered functional co-developmental pattern between WM and GM in ASD. LAY SUMMARY: White matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) are two major human brain organs supporting brain function. WM and GM functions show a specific co-developmental pattern in typical developed individuals. This study showed that this GM/WM co-developmental pattern was altered in children with ASD, while this altered GM/WM co-developmental pattern was related to stereotyped behaviors. These findings may help understand the GM/WM functional development of ASD.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021 · doi:10.1002/aur.2435