The impact of decreased GABA neurotransmission on the development of individuals on the autism spectrum.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K16623
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 52030:Psychiatry-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hirosawa Tetsu 金沢大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 准教授 (80645127)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: MEG / ASD / グラフ理論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We recruited mainly preschool children with ASD and typically developing children, and investigated the differences in the structure of brain neural networks using MEG. We used internationally recognized structured interviews for autism diagnosis, such as ADOS and DISCO, and K-ABC for intelligence testing, while communication disorders and obsessive-compulsive behaviors were evaluated using SRS. We estimated neural activity in 68 brain regions using MEG and visualized the brain neural networks by evaluating the similarity of neural activity between brain regions using the Phase Lag Index. We analyzed the visualized brain neural networks using graph theory and were able to find significant differences in the neural network structures between children with ASD and typically developing children.

Free Research Field

自閉スペクトラム症の病態について

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究は、自閉症スペクトラム障害（ASD）児と健常児の脳内神経ネットワークの違いを調べ、ASDの脳の特性を明らかにすることを目的としました。未就学のASD児と健常児を対象に、MEGを用いて脳活動を計測し、脳内神経ネットワークを可視化しました。その結果、ASD児と健常児の脳内神経ネットワークには有意な違いが見られ、ASD児の脳は健常児の脳とは異なったネットワーク特性を持つ傾向があることが分かりました。この成果は、ASDの病態解明や早期診断の向上に役立つと期待されます。