Aberrant dynamic and static functional connectivity of the striatum across specific low-frequency bands in patients with autism spectrum disorder

Junsa Zhu; Yun Jiao; Ran Chen; Xun-Heng Wang; Yunyan Han

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111749

Aberrant dynamic and static functional connectivity of the striatum across specific low-frequency bands in patients with autism spectrum disorder

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2023 Dec:336:111749. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111749. Epub 2023 Nov 10.

Authors

Junsa Zhu¹, Yun Jiao², Ran Chen¹, Xun-Heng Wang³, Yunyan Han⁴

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China; Network Information Center, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: yunjiao@seu.edu.cn.
³ Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
⁴ Public Health School of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116000, China.

PMID: 37977097
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111749

Abstract

Background: Dysfunctions of the striatum have been repeatedly observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous studies have explored the static functional connectivity (sFC) of the striatum in a single frequency band, ignoring the dynamics and frequency specificity of brain FC. Therefore, we investigated the dynamic FC (dFC) and sFC of the striatum in the slow-4 (0.027-0.073 Hz) and slow-5 (0.01-0.027 Hz) frequency bands.

Methods: Data of 47 ASD patients and 47 typically developing (TD) controls were obtained from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database. A seed-based approach was used to compute the dFC and sFC. Then, a two-sample t-test was performed. For regions showing abnormal sFC and dFC, we performed clinical correlation analysis and constructed support vector machine (SVM) models.

Results: The middle frontal gyrus (MFG), precuneus, and medial superior frontal gyrus (mPFC) showed both dynamic and static alterations. The reduced striatal dFC in the right MFG was associated with autism symptoms. The dynamic‒static FC model had a great performance in ASD classification, with 95.83 % accuracy.

Conclusions: The striatal dFC and sFC were altered in ASD, which were frequency specific. Examining brain activity using dynamic and static FC provides a comprehensive view of brain activity.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Dynamic functional connectivity; Frequency specificity; Striatum; Support vector machine.

MeSH terms

Autism Spectrum Disorder* / diagnostic imaging
Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping* / methods
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Neural Pathways / diagnostic imaging