Newswise — A recent article published in Volume 3 of the journal Psychoradiology, researchers from Peking University and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, identified specific alterations in brain structural connectivity that might act as an early diagnostic marker for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in young children. The study employed Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to explore the diagnostic gap in precision medicine standards and analyzed brain connectivity differences between ASD and typically developing (TD) children across three Chinese cities. By generating a connection matrix for each participant, the team discerned patterns distinguishing ASD from TD. Notably, 33 distinct structural connections, predominantly in the frontal cortex, exhibited increased Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in children with ASD. This enabled the classification of ASD from TD children with an impressive accuracy of 96.77% in the primary dataset. This accuracy remained high, at 91.67% and 88.89%, when validated against two independent datasets. These identified frontal connections could be categorized into five networks associated with functions such as memory, motor control, language, social recognition, and reward. One particular network connected decision-making regions, like the orbitofrontal cortex, to areas vital for social processing—a function frequently affected in ASD individuals. Interestingly, the study found an inverse correlation between elevated FA values in these connections and autism symptom severity, implying that higher FA values might be linked to milder symptoms due to potential compensatory brain mechanisms. Distinctively, this study's methodology, focusing on DTI-derived FA values, showcased better diagnostic accuracy than previous works centered on white matter fiber tracts. However, the study wasn't without limitations. Concentrating on the age range of 3.5-6 years meant potential developmental changes in structural variances as children grow were overlooked. Furthermore, the question remains whether these structural alterations are unique to ASD or might appear in other developmental disorders. Lastly, the two validation datasets, albeit supportive, were limited in size.
In conclusion, this research represents a pivotal advancement in early ASD diagnosis. By pinpointing specific neural connections, particularly within the frontal cortex, the study introduces a potential biomarker. This holds the promise of transforming personalized treatments and enhancing clinical care for young children diagnosed with autism.
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References
DOI
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/psyrad/kkad005
Funding information
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (62276050 - XJ, 61976045 - XJ, 81801779 - XJS), Key Technological Projects of Guangdong Province (2018B030335001 - KMK), Key Realm R&D Program of Guangdong Province (2019B030335001 - RZ), Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission ( Z181100001518005 - RZ), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021YJ0247 - XJ), The Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Central Colleges (ZYGX2021J036 - XJ), China University IUR Innovation Foundation (Dezhou)(2021DZ021 - RZ), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M690442 - XJS).
About Psychoradiology
Psychoradiology is an open-access journal co-published by Oxford University Press and West China Hospital. It has been indexed by DOAJ and the APC is waived during its early stage. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions in the fields of radiology, psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neuroscience, as well as medical imaging, interventional medicine, artificial intelligence, and computer science, etc. A fast-track production mode will be adopted to ensure the manuscript is published as soon as possible.
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