White matter in autism spectrum disorders - evidence of impaired fiber formation

Abstract

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables measurements and visualization of the microstructure of neural fiber tracts. The existing literature on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and DTI is heterogenous both regarding methodology and results.

Purpose: To compare brain white matter of high-functioning individuals with ASDs and controls.

Material and methods: Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), a voxel-based approach to DTI, was used to compare 27 subjects with ASDs (mean age 14.7 years, range 11.4-17.6 years, 20 boys, 7 girls) and 26 control subjects (mean age 14.5 years, range 11.7-17.3 years, 17 boys, 9 girls). Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) image (skeleton) was created and each subject's aligned FA data were then projected onto this skeleton. Voxelwise cross-subject statistics on the skeletonized FA data, mean diffusivity (MD), and measures of diffusion direction were calculated. Importantly, the data were corrected across the whole image instead of using ROI-based methods.

Results: The ASD group showed significantly greater FA (P < 0.05, corrected) in the area containing clusters of optic radiation and the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (iFOF). In the same area, λ(3) (representing transverse diffusion) was significantly reduced in the ASD group. No age-related changes were found.

Conclusion: The results suggest that the reduced transverse diffusion within the iFOF is related to abnormal information flow between the insular salience processing areas and occipital visual areas.