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Widespread White Matter Differences in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging studies show white matter (WM) abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, investigations are often limited by small samples, particularly problematic given the heterogeneity of ASD. We explored WM using DTI in a large sample of 130 children and adolescents (7–15 years) with and without ASD, whether age-related changes differed between ASD and control groups, and the relation between DTI measures and ASD symptomatology. Reduced fractional anisotropy and axial diffusivity were observed in ASD in numerous WM tracts, including the corpus callosum and thalamocortical fibres—tracts crucial for interhemispheric connectivity and higher order information processing. Widespread WM compromise in ASD is consistent with the view that ASD is a disorder of generalized complex information processing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all of the families and children for their support and participation. We would also like to thank Tamara Powell, MyLoi Huynh and Rina Goukon for their assistance with participant recruitment and data collection. Many thanks to Rachel Leung and Becky Baatjes for administering the ADOS, and Dr. Jessica Brian for reviewing all assessments. Sincere thanks to our MRI technicians, Ruth Weiss and Tammy Rayner, for all their support in data acquisition. This research was funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-106582) and Rachel Leung and Vanessa Vogan were supported through a studentship, fully or in part, by the Matching Funds Program, Hospital for Sick Children Foundation Student Scholarship Program and Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Preliminary analyses of these data were presented as a poster at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2015.

Authors’ Contributions

V. V. drafted the manuscript, interpreted data, conducted the statistical analysis, and participated in participant recruitment and testing, and the study coordination; B. M. participated in the statistical design of the study, helped perform statistical analysis and preprocessing of the data, and helped draft the manuscript; R. L. participated in participant recruitment and testing, and helped draft the manuscript; E. A. participated in the design of the study and helped draft the manuscript; K. D. T. helped interpret the data and draft the manuscript; M. J. T. participated in study design and coordination and helped draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital for Sick Children, Diagnostic Imaging, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada

    V. M. Vogan, B. R. Morgan, R. C. Leung & M. J. Taylor

  2. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Toronto, ON, Canada

    V. M. Vogan & M. J. Taylor

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    R. C. Leung & M. J. Taylor

  4. Bloorview Research Institute, Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, 150 Kilgour Road, Toronto, ON, M4G 1R8, Canada

    E. Anagnostou & K. Doyle-Thomas

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  1. V. M. Vogan
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Vogan, V.M., Morgan, B.R., Leung, R.C. et al. Widespread White Matter Differences in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 2138–2147 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2744-2

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