A typical gray matter volume in children with autism spectrum disorder: a voxel-based morphometric study

Objective To compare the gray matter volume (GMV) of ASD children with healthy control and to explore the neuroimaging evidence associated with ASD brain structure.Methods Whole-brain T1 MRI scans were collected both from 21 ASD children and 9 normal children,VBM analysis was performed to calculate the GMV of each brain regions.A two-sample t test combining Alphasim multiple test correction was utilized to explore the regions with atypical GMV,then a multi-regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the GMV of atypical regions and symptoms of ASD,and the development course of two groups.Results Compared with HC group,ASD exhibited increased GMV in precuneus,calcarine,lingual gyrus,left posterior cingulated,left supramarginal gyrus,left superior temporal gyrus,left inferior parietal lobule,left postcentral gyrus,left rolandic operculum and left middle temporal gyrus(P<0.05 after correction).Moreover the GMV of left superior temporal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule(r =-0.64,P =0.002) were negative correlated with ADI-R SOCIAL and ADOS SOCIAL scores in ASD(r =-0.52,P=0.017).Investigation of age-related effects demonstrated that the GMV of atypical regions decreased with age in individuals with ASD(r=-0.52,P=0.002),but not in the HC group(r=-0.15,P=0.69).Conclusion The changes of GMV in ASD children located in several brain regions,and the brain structure of children with ASD was significantly abnormal.