Cited by 321Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchGenetics and Neurodevelopmental DisordersFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

Review of neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorders: what have we learned and where we go from here

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Anagnostou, Evdokia, Taylor, Margot J·2011·Molecular Autism

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a syndrome of social communication deficits and repetitive behaviors or restrictive interests. It remains a behaviorally defined syndrome with no reliable biological markers. The goal of this review is to summarize the available neuroimaging data and examine their implication for our understanding of the neurobiology of ASD.Although there is variability in the literature on structural magnetic resonance literature (MRI), there is evidence of volume abnormalities in both grey and white matter, with a suggestion of some region-specific differences. Early brain overgrowth is probably the most replicated finding in a subgroup of people with ASD, and new techniques, such as cortical-thickness measurements and surface morphometry have begun to elucidate in more detail the patterns of abnormalities as they evolve with age, and are implicating specific neuroanatomical or neurodevelopmental processes. Functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging techniques suggest that such volume abnormalities are associated with atypical functional and structural connectivity in the brain, and researchers have begun to use magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) techniques to explore the neurochemical substrate of such abnormalities. The data from multiple imaging methods suggests that ASD is associated with an atypically connected brain. We now need to further clarify such atypicalities, and start interpreting them in the context of what we already know about typical neurodevelopmental processes including migration and organization of the cortex. Such an approach will allow us to relate imaging findings not only to behavior, but also to genes and their expression, which may be related to such processes, and to further our understanding of the nature of neurobiologic abnormalities in ASD.

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  • Autism spectrum disorder has been associated with neurobiological differences in brain networks responsible for perception, processing, and responding to emotional stimuli.

    “ASD has been associated with neurobiological differences in brain networks responsible for these functions (for example, the prefrontal cortex, the insular cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortices) [6]”

    From Functional autonomic nervous system profile in children with autism spectrum disorder (2014) · cites this paper as [6]

    The fMRI section reports atypical anterior cingulate activation in ASD and altered connectivity during social-cognition tasks; it also identifies the medial prefrontal cortex as part of a network studied in ASD. The References list a study of altered insula connectivity. The review does not establish that all three named regions form networks responsible specifically for perceiving, processing, and responding to emotional stimuli. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Lee JE Chung MK Lazar M DuBray MB Kim J Bigler ED Lainhart JE Alexander AL A study of diffusion tensor imaging by tissue-specific smoothing-compensated voxel-based analysis Neuroimage 2009 44 3 870 83 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.09.041 18976713 PMC2657194 · DOI
  2. Sahyoun CP Belliveau JW Soulières I Schwartz S Mody M Neuroimaging of the functional and structural networks underlying visuospatial vs. linguistic reasoning in high-functioning autism Neuropsychologia 2010 48 86 95 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.013 19698726 PMC2795068 · DOI

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Authors
Anagnostou, E., & Taylor, M. J.
Affiliations
University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
Anagnostou, Evdokia
Venue
Molecular Autism
Published
2011
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
4
ISSN
2040-2392 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2101436791
Cited by
321
References
111
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 27
FWCI
13.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Molecular Autism (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Defense
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (81161_1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, neuroimaging, brain structure, gray matter volume, white matter volume, brain overgrowth, cortical thickness, functional connectivity, structural connectivity, diffusion tensor imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, brain development, neurobiology of autism

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