著者

Mika Kimura Ryuzo Hanaie Ikuko Mohri Kuriko Kagitani-Shimono Masaya Tachibana Junko Matsuzaki Norihiko Fujita Yoshiyuki Watanabe Masako Taniike

出版者

Japan Brain Science society

雑誌

脳科学誌 (ISSN:13415301)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.42, pp.21-42, 2013-09-30 (Released:2017-06-01)

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by a number of functional abnormalities including disruptions to language. Recently, abnormal connectivity in the brain has been reported as a neuronal basis of functional impairments in ASD. Using tractographical analysis of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) by Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), we attempted to clarify the neuropsychological basis for the language impairment in ASD by investigating thirteen school-aged children with ASD and eleven age- and IQ-matched control subjects. As a result of the DTI examination, no statistically significant differences in the values of fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity, and mean diffusivity were found. In both TD and ASD groups, the FA score of the AF was higher in the left hemisphere than it was in the right. We revealed that in children with ASD, the FA values of the left AF showed a positive correlation between age, verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), and full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ). In addition, a negative correlation was found between RD values on the left AF with VIQ, FSIQ, and age in children with ASD. This is the first report to reveal a correlation between microconnectivity of the AF and VIQ in children diagnosed with ASD. Therefore, these findings suggest that the altered microstructural integrity of the AF may be related to verbal ability in ASD.