Microstructural neural correlates of maximal grip strength in autistic children: the role of the cortico-cerebellar network and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder features
Olivia Surgent, Jose Guerrero-Gonzalez, Douglas C. Dean, Nagesh Adluru, Gregory R. Kirk, Steven R. Kecskemeti, Andrew L. Alexander, James J. Li, Brittany G. Travers
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
IntroductionMaximal grip strength, a measure of how much force a person’s hand can generate when squeezing an object, may be an effective method for understanding potential neurobiological differences during motor tasks. Grip strength in autistic individuals may be of particular interest due to its unique developmental trajectory. While autism-specific differences in grip-brain relationships have been found in adult populations, it is possible that such differences in grip-brain relationships may be present at earlier ages when grip strength is behaviorally similar in autistic and non-autistic groups. Further, such neural differences may lead to the later emergence of diagnostic-group grip differences in adolescence. The present study sought to examine this possibility, while also examining if grip strength could elucidate the neuro-motor sources of phenotypic heterogeneity commonly observed within autism.MethodsUsing high resolution, multi-shell diffusion, and quantitative R1 relaxometry imaging, this study examined how variations in key sensorimotor-related white matter pathways of the proprioception input, lateral grasping, cortico-cerebellar, and corticospinal networks were associated with individual variations in grip strength in 68 autistic children and 70 non-autistic (neurotypical) children (6–11 years-old).ResultsIn both groups, results indicated that stronger grip strength was associated with higher proprioceptive input, lateral grasping, and corticospinal (but not cortico-cerebellar modification) fractional anisotropy and R1, indirect measures concordant with stronger microstructural coherence and increased myelination. Diagnostic group differences in these grip-brain relationships were not observed, but the autistic group exhibited more variability particularly in the cortico-cerebellar modification indices. An examination into the variability within the autistic group revealed that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) features moderated the relationships between grip strength and both fractional anisotropy and R1 relaxometry in the premotor-primary motor tract of the lateral grasping network and the cortico-cerebellar network tracts. Specifically, in autistic children with elevated ADHD features (60% of the autistic group) stronger grip strength was related to higher fractional anisotropy and R1 of the cerebellar modification network (stronger microstructural coherence and more myelin), whereas the opposite relationship was observed in autistic children with reduced ADHD features.DiscussionTogether, this work suggests that while the foundational elements of grip strength are similar across school-aged autistic and non-autistic children, neural mechanisms of grip strength within autistic children may additionally depend on the presence of ADHD features. Specifically, stronger, more coherent connections of the cerebellar modification network, which is thought to play a role in refining and optimizing motor commands, may lead to stronger grip in children with more ADHD features, weaker grip in children with fewer ADHD features, and no difference in grip in non-autistic children. While future research is needed to understand if these findings extend to other motor tasks beyond grip strength, these results have implications for understanding the biological basis of neuromotor control in autistic children and emphasize the importance of assessing co-occurring conditions when evaluating brain-behavior relationships in autism.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that synthesizes multiple facets of brain structure and function, to better understand how multiple diverse functions are integrated to produce complex behaviors. Led by an outstanding Editorial Board of international experts, this multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide.
Our goal is to publish research related to furthering the understanding of the integrative mechanisms underlying brain functioning across one or more interacting levels of neural organization. In most real life experiences, sensory inputs from several modalities converge and interact in a manner that influences perception and actions generating purposeful and social behaviors. The journal is therefore focused on the primary questions of how multiple sensory, cognitive and emotional processes merge to produce coordinated complex behavior. It is questions such as this that cannot be answered at a single level – an ion channel, a neuron or a synapse – that we wish to focus on. In Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience we welcome in vitro or in vivo investigations across the molecular, cellular, and systems and behavioral level. Research in any species and at any stage of development and aging that are focused at understanding integration mechanisms underlying emergent properties of the brain and behavior are welcome.