A comprehensive volumetric analysis of the cerebellum in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder
Open accessAbstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and postmortem neuropathological studies have implicated the cerebellum in the pathophysiology of autism. Controversy remains, however, concerning the nature and the consistency of cerebellar alterations. MRI studies of the cross‐sectional area of the vermis have found both decreases and no difference in autism groups. Volumetric analysis of the vermis, which is less prone to “plane of section artifacts” may provide a more reliable assessment of size differences but few such studies exist in the literature. Here we present the results of a volumetric analysis of the structure of the whole cerebellum and its components in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Structural MRI's were acquired from 62 male participants (7.5 to 18.5 years‐old) who met criteria for the following age‐matched diagnostic groups: low functioning autism, high functioning autism (HFA), Asperger syndrome, and typically developing children. When compared to controls, the midsagittal area of the vermis, or of subgroups of lobules, was not reduced in any of the autism groups. However, we did find that total vermis volume was decreased in the combined autism group. When examined separately, the vermis of only the HFA group was significantly reduced compared to typically developing controls. Neither IQ nor age predicted the size of the vermis within the autism groups. There were no differences in the volume of individual vermal lobules or cerebellar hemispheres. These findings are discussed in relation to the pathology of autism and to the fairly common alterations of vermal morphology in various neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Some but not all tracing and voxel-based morphometry studies of young children, adolescents, and adults with autistic disorder find evidence for increased cerebellar volume.
“As recently reviewed [32], some, but not all, tracing and voxel-based morphometry studies of young children, adolescents and adults with AD find evidence for increased cerebellar volume.”
From Consensus Paper: Pathological Role of the Cerebellum in Autism (2012) · cites this paper as [32]
Vermal hypoplasia, particularly lobules VI-VII, may be associated with autistic disorder, but the specificity of this relationship is not well established and there is heterogeneity within autistic disorder.
“Thus, vermal hypoplasia, particularly lobules VI-VII, may be associated with AD but the specificity of this relationship is not well established and there is heterogeneity within AD.”
From Consensus Paper: Pathological Role of the Cerebellum in Autism (2012) · cites this paper as [32]
The most frequently reported cerebellar anomalies in autism include smaller vermis volume, Purkinje cell numbers reduced by up to 50%, ectopic neurons in white matter, and patchy cytoarchitectonic ectopias in cerebellar cortex.
“The anomalies most frequently reported include a smaller vermis volume, Purkinje cell numbers reduced by up to 50%, ectopic neurons in the white matter, and patchy cytoarchitectonic ectopias in the cerebellar cortex [32, 33, 118, 228, 229].”
From Consensus Paper: Pathological Role of the Cerebellum in Autism (2012) · cites this paper as [32]
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- Authors
- Scott, J. A., Schumann, C. M., Goodlin‐Jones, B. L., & Amaral, D. G.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Amaral, David G.
- Venue
- Autism Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-10
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 246-257
- ISSN
- 1939-3792 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-3806
- PMC
- PMC2999464
- OpenAlex
- W1971971642
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 5.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Autism Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of California, Davis
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-41479, MH-50047, R01MH041479, MH01142, K02MH001142, R01MH050047, K01MH001832, R37MH041479, MH01832)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS016980, NS 16980)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD031715, HD31715)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Fetal and Pediatric Neurological Disorders
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, cerebellum, cerebellar vermis, cerebellar lobules, high-functioning autism, Asperger syndrome, cerebellar morphology, neurodevelopmental disorders, children and adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Analysis of Variance, Brain Mapping, Cerebellum, Child, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Imaging, Three-Dimensional
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