Functional Brain Networks in Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Bin Qin; Longlun Wang; Jinhua Cai; Tingyu Li; Yun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.896388

Functional Brain Networks in Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 4:13:896388. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.896388. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Bin Qin^{1

2}, Longlun Wang¹, Jinhua Cai¹, Tingyu Li³, Yun Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Translational Medical Research in Cognitive Development and Learning and Memory Disorders, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
² Chongqing Engineering Research Center for Clinical Big Data and Drug Evaluation, Medical Data Science, Academy of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
³ Children Nutrition Research Center, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to investigate the functional brain network characteristics of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through functional connectivity (FC) calculations using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and graph theory analysis to better understand the pathogenesis of ASD and provide imaging evidence for the early assessment of this condition.

Methods: A prospective study of preschool children including 32 with ASD (ASD group) and 22 healthy controls (HC)group was conducted in which all subjects underwent rs-fMRI scans, and then the differences in FC between the two groups was calculated, followed by graph-theoretic analysis to obtain the FC properties of the network.

Results: In the calculation of FC, compared with the children in the HC group, significant increases or decreases in subnetwork connectivity was found in the ASD group. There were 25 groups of subnetworks with enhanced FC, of which the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate gyrus and angular gyrus were all important components of the default mode network (DMN). There were 11 groups of subnetworks with weakened FC, including the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, precuneus, amygdala, and perirhinal cortex, with the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus predominating. In the network properties determined by graph theory, the clustering coefficient and local efficiency of the functional network was increased in the ASD group; specifically, compared with those in the HC group, nodes in the left subinsular frontal gyrus and the right middle temporal gyrus had increased efficiency, and nodes in the left perisylvian cortex, the left lingual gyrus, and the right hippocampus had decreased efficiency.

Conclusion: Alterations in functional brain networks are evident in preschool children with ASD and can be detected with sleep rs-fMRI, which is important for understanding the pathogenesis of ASD and assessing this condition early.

Keywords: ASD; functional connectivity; graph theory; preschool children; rs-fMRI.