Neurobiological signatures of autism spectrum disorder

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25861030
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Keio University (2014-2016); Showa University (2013)
• Principal Investigator: Yamagata Bun 慶應義塾大学, 医学部(信濃町), 助教 (30439476)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 発達障害 / 自閉症スペクトラム障害 / 脳画像研究 / 同胞研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have enrolled total 54 participants including 15 ASD and their unaffected sibling (US) pairs and 12 healthy control sibling pairs in this study. When we compared gray matter volume (GMV) between ASD and US, there was no significant GMV difference between groups in a voxel-based analysis. However, when decreasing the level of significance, we found ASD had smaller GMV in the bilateral amygdala and caudate and larger GMV in the middle frontal gyrus compared to UN. These brain regions have consistently been reported to be associated with ASD pathology from previous meta-analysis studies. Although UN is not clinically diagnosed as ASD, UN has mild structure abnormalities in the brain regions related to the pathology of ASD. We suggested that these common findings between ASD and UN may be a specific biological marker for ASD.

Free Research Field

脳画像研究、発達障害、気分障害