This review focuses on recent advances in the in vivo study of the whole brain in idiopathic autism. The brain is abnormally large in some but not all children with autism during post-natal development. Age-related changes in brain volume in autism are complex and appear to be abnormal from infancy into adulthood. Diffuse differences in total and regional gray and white matter volumes are found. The volumetric abnormalities appear to follow anomalous, complex, and non-uniform developmental curves. Diffuse abnormalities of brain chemical concentrations, neural network anatomy, brain lateralization, intra- and inter-hemispheric morphologic and functional connectivity, and serotonin synthesis capacity are also found. Abnormalities of head growth are first apparent during infancy. Abnormalities of total brain volume, gray and white matter volumes, brain chemistry, serotonin synthesis, and brain electrophysiology are evident by early childhood. Currently, no method of brain imaging helps with diagnosis or treatment of idiopathic autism, but ongoing research aims to unravel the heterogeneity of autism and may provide future diagnostic tools that inform treatment.
(c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.