Stephania Assimopoulos, C. Hammill, D. Fernandes, T. L. Spencer Noakes, Yu-Qing Zhou, L. Nutter, J. Ellegood, E. Anagnostou, J. Sled, J. Lerch
{"title":"Genetic mouse models of autism spectrum disorder present subtle heterogenous cardiac abnormalities","authors":"Stephania Assimopoulos, C. Hammill, D. Fernandes, T. L. Spencer Noakes, Yu-Qing Zhou, L. Nutter, J. Ellegood, E. Anagnostou, J. Sled, J. Lerch","doi":"10.1101/2021.10.19.465007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.19.465007","url":null,"abstract":"Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) are strongly linked on a functional and genetic level. Most work has been focused on neurodevelopmental abnormalities in CHD. Conversely, cardiac abnormalities in ASD have been less studied. In this work we investigate the prevalence of cardiac comorbidities relative to genetic contributors of ASD. Methods Using high frequency ultrasound imaging, we screened 9 mouse models with ASD-related genetic alterations (Arid1b(+/-), Chd8(+/-), 16p11.2 (deletion), Sgsh(+/-), Sgsh(-/-), Shank3 Δexon 4-9(+/-), Shank3 Δexon 4-9(-/-), Fmr1(-/-), Vps13b(+/-)), and pooled wild-type littermates (WT). Using a standardised imaging protocol, we measured heart rate (HR), aorta diameter (AoD), thickness and thickening of the left-ventricular (LV) anterior and posterior walls, LV chamber diameter, fractional shortening, stroke volume and cardiac output, Peak E and A velocity ratio of mitral inflow, Velocity Time Integral (VTI) through the ascending aorta. Results Mutant groups presented small-scale alterations in cardiac structure and function compared to WTs. A greater number of significant differences was observed among mutant groups than between mutant groups and WTs. Mutant groups differed primarily in measures of structure (LV chamber diameter and anterior wall thickness, HR, AoD). When compared to WTs, they differed in both structure and function (LV anterior wall thickness and thickening, chamber diameter and fractional shortening, HR). The mutant groups with most differences to WTs were 16p11.2 (deletion), Fmrl(-/-), Arid1b(+/-). Among mutant groups, the groups differing most from others were 16p11.2 (deletion), Sgsh(+/-), Fmrl(-/-). Our results broadly recapitulate the associated clinical findings. Limitations Various genetically driven cardiac abnormalities occur early in life, so repeating this work in non-adult mice may be valuable. To identify possible sex differences, we must extend this work to female mice. The downsampling procedure used (total correlation calculation) must be verified. Only indirect comparison between our results and clinical literature is possible due to differing study designs. Conclusions The characteristic heterogeneity of ASD was recapitulated in the observed cardiac phenotype. The type of measures (morphological, functional) mutant groups differ in can highlight common underlying mechanisms. Clinically, knowledge of cardiac abnormalities in ASD can be essential as even non-lethal cardiac abnormalities can impact normal development.","PeriodicalId":72339,"journal":{"name":"Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research","volume":"15 1","pages":"1189 - 1208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44093703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The problem of heterogeneity in autism: Response to Mottron (2021) \"Aradical change in our autism research strategy is needed: Back to prototypes\".","authors":"Lynn Waterhouse","doi":"10.1002/aur.2584","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.2584","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72339,"journal":{"name":"Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39260288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel E Lidstone, Rebecca Rochowiak, Stewart H Mostofsky, Mary Beth Nebel
{"title":"A Data Driven Approach Reveals That Anomalous Motor System Connectivity is Associated With the Severity of Core Autism Symptoms.","authors":"Daniel E Lidstone, Rebecca Rochowiak, Stewart H Mostofsky, Mary Beth Nebel","doi":"10.1002/aur.2476","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.2476","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined whether disruptions in connectivity involving regions critical for learning, planning, and executing movements are relevant to core autism symptoms. Spatially constrained ICA was performed using resting-state fMRI from 419 children (autism spectrum disorder (ASD) = 105; typically developing (TD) = 314) to identify functional motor subdivisions. Comparing the spatial organization of each subdivision between groups, we found voxels that contributed significantly less to the right posterior cerebellar component in children with ASD versus TD (P <0.001). Next, we examined the effect of diagnosis on right posterior cerebellar connectivity with all other motor subdivisions. The model was significant (P = 0.014) revealing that right posterior cerebellar connectivity with bilateral dorsomedial primary motor cortex was, on average, stronger in children with ASD, while right posterior cerebellar connectivity with left-inferior parietal lobule (IPL), bilateral dorsolateral premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area was stronger in TD children (all P ≤0.02). We observed a diagnosis-by-connectivity interaction such that for children with ASD, elevated social-communicative and excessive repetitive-behavior symptom severity were both associated with right posterior cerebellar-left-IPL hypoconnectivity (P ≤0.001). Right posterior cerebellar and left-IPL are strongly implicated in visuomotor processing with dysfunction in this circuit possibly leading to anomalous development of skills, such as motor imitation, that are crucial for effective social-communication. LAY SUMMARY: This study examines whether communication between various brain regions involved in the control of movement are disrupted in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We show communication between the right posterior cerebellum and left IPL, a circuit important for efficient visual-motor integration, is disrupted in children with ASD and associated with the severity of ASD symptoms. These results may explain observations of visual-motor integration impairments in children with ASD that are associated with ASD symptom severity.</p>","PeriodicalId":72339,"journal":{"name":"Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8931705/pdf/nihms-1690119.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38784882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ting Li, M. Hoogman, N. Roth Mota, J. Buitelaar, A. Vasquez, B. Franke, D. van Rooij
{"title":"Dissecting the heterogeneous subcortical brain volume of autism spectrum disorder using community detection","authors":"Ting Li, M. Hoogman, N. Roth Mota, J. Buitelaar, A. Vasquez, B. Franke, D. van Rooij","doi":"10.1101/2020.09.09.288993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.09.288993","url":null,"abstract":"Structural brain alterations found in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have previously been very heterogeneous, with overall limited effect sizes for every region implicated. In this study, we aimed at exploring the existence of subgroups in ASD, based on neuroanatomic profiles; we hypothesized that effect sizes of case/control difference would be increased in defined subgroups. Using the dataset from the ENIGMA-ASD Working Group (n=2661), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied on seven subcortical volumes of individuals with ASD and controls to uncover the underlying organization of subcortical structures. Based on earlier findings in ADHD patients and controls as well as data availability, we focused on three age groups: boys (aged 4-14 years), male adolescents (aged 14-22 years), and adult men (aged >=22 years). The resulting factor scores were used in a community detection (CD) analysis, to cluster participants into subgroups. Three factors were found in each sample, with the factor structure in adult men differing from that in boys and male adolescents. From the patterns in these factors, CD uncovered four distinct communities in boys and three communities in adolescents and adult men, irrespective of ASD diagnostic status. The effect sizes of case/control comparisons appeared more pronounced than in the whole sample in some communities. Based on subcortical volumes, we succeeded in stratifying our participants into more homogeneous subgroups with similar brain structural patterns. The stratification enhanced our ability to observe case/control differences of subcortical brain volumes in ASD, and may help explain some of the heterogeneity of previous findings in ASD.","PeriodicalId":72339,"journal":{"name":"Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research","volume":"15 1","pages":"42 - 55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43561928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}