Cortical Thickness and Clinical Findings in Prescholar Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

• DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.776860
• Publication Date: 2022-02-07T05:22:26Z
• Authors: Simona Lucibello; Giovanna Bertè; Tommaso Verdolotti; Martina Lucignani; Antonio Napolitano; Rosa D’Abronzo; Maria G. Cicala; Elisa Pede; Daniela Chieffo; Paolo Mariotti; Cesare Colosimo; Eugenio Mercuri; Roberta Battini
• Keywords: General Neuroscience; pre-scholar child; Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry; cortical thickness; neuropsychological; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; autism spectrum disorder (ASD); MRI; autism spectrum disorder (ASD); cortical thickness; local gyrification index; neuropsychological; pre-scholar child; MRI; local gyrification index; RC321-571; Neuroscience

The term autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes a wide variability of clinical presentation, and this heterogeneity seems to reflect still unclear multifactorial etiopathogenesis, encompassing different genetic risk factors susceptibility environmental factors. Several studies many theories recognize as mechanisms disruption brain development maturation time course, suggesting the existence common neurobiological substrates, such defective synaptic structure aberrant connectivity. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in both assessment region-specific structural changes quantification specific alterations gray or white matter, which could lead identification MRI biomarker. In study, we performed measurement cortical thickness selected well-known group preschool ASD subjects with aim finding correlation between metrics scores understand underlying mechanism symptoms support early diagnosis. Our results confirm that recent techniques combined data can provide some useful information defining cerebral regions involved although large sample homogeneous analytical multisite approaches are needed.