Basal ganglia morphometry and repetitive behavior in young children with autism spectrum disorder
- 7 April 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Autism Research
- Vol. 4 (3), 212-220
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.193
Abstract
We investigated repetitive and stereotyped behavior (RSB) and its relationship to morphometric measures of the basal ganglia and thalami in 3‐ to 4‐year‐old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 77) and developmental delay without autism (DD; n = 34). Children were assessed through clinical evaluation and parent report using RSB‐specific scales extracted from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Autism Diagnostic Interview, and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. A subset of children with ASD (n = 45), DD (n = 14), and a group of children with typical development (TD; n = 25) were also assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Children with ASD demonstrated elevated RSB across all measures compared to children with DD. Enlargement of the left and right striatum, more specifically the left and right putamen, and left caudate, was observed in the ASD compared to the TD group. However, nuclei were not significantly enlarged after controlling for cerebral volume. The DD group, in comparison to the ASD group, demonstrated smaller thalami and basal ganglia regions even when scaled for cerebral volume, with the exception of the left striatum, left putamen, and right putamen. Elevated RSB, as measured by the ADOS, was associated with decreased volumes in several brain regions: left thalamus, right globus pallidus, left and right putamen, right striatum and a trend for left globus pallidus and left striatum within the ASD group. These results confirm earlier reports that RSB is common early in the clinical course of ASD and, furthermore, demonstrate that such behaviors may be associated with decreased volumes of the basal ganglia and thalamus. Autism Res 2011,4:212–220. © 2011 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Parenting stress and psychological functioning among mothers of preschool children with autism and developmental delayAutism, 2009
- Distinct patterns of grey matter abnormality in high‐functioning autism and Asperger’s syndromeJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2008
- Repetitive and stereotyped movements in children with autism spectrum disorders late in the second year of lifeJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2008
- Level of Intellectual Functioning Predicts Patterns of Associated Symptoms in School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum DisorderAmerican Journal on Mental Retardation, 2007
- Caudate Nucleus Volume and Cognitive Performance: Are They Related in Childhood Psychopathology?Biological Psychiatry, 2006
- Abnormal brain size effect on the thalamus in autismPsychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2006
- The Developmental Neurobiology of Autism Spectrum DisorderJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- Repetitive and stereotyped behaviours in pervasive developmental disordersJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2006
- Fine Mapping of Autistic Disorder to Chromosome 15q11-q13 by Use of Phenotypic SubtypesAmerican Journal of Human Genetics, 2003
- Rhythmical behavior in infancy: An ethological perspective.Developmental Psychology, 1981