Discovering the differences in the structure of neurons in the brains of children with autism

According to RCO News Agency, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), defined by shared differences in motor and social behaviors, is a condition that affects individuals uniquely.

Identifying features in the brain that can explain its diverse manifestations and commonalities across ages is the goal of scientists seeking to understand its cause.

According to SA, the latest research by a team at the University of Rochester in New York has used advanced scanning techniques to detect changes in the neurology of people with autism, providing a more detailed look at the density and structure of the brain’s gray matter.

This type of analysis is often difficult to perform in living individuals, so much of our existing data is based on old postmortem subjects. But new imaging technology means we can now see how the brain is wired in younger people.

“We’ve spent many years describing the larger properties of brain regions, such as their thickness, volume, and curvature,” says Zachary Christensen, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester. However, newer neuroimaging techniques to characterize cells using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reveal new levels of complexity during development.

The researchers used a form of high-resolution MRI to create detailed maps of the brains of 142 children with autism and compared them with images taken from 8,971 controls (children without a diagnosis of autism).

One set of studies was conducted when the volunteers were 9 or 10 years old, and another set of studies was conducted a few years later.

The comparisons showed that there is less density of neurons in certain areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for our ability to learn, reason, solve problems and successfully form memories.

Neuron density has increased in other areas. For example, this was the case in a region of the brain called the amygdala, which scientists think helps process emotions. Furthermore, when comparing children with autism to children with ADHD and anxiety, these differences appear to be specific to autism.

It’s too early to say what these differences in neuron density mean, but they could help explain some of the features of autism.

Importantly, new imaging methods mean we can now track conditions as they develop.

If characterizing the unique abnormalities in neuron structure in people with autism can be done reliably and with relative ease, there will be many opportunities to describe how autism develops, says Christensen.

The researchers say these measures could be used to identify people with autism who could benefit from more specific treatment interventions.

It’s only recently become possible to do non-invasive brain scans with such high precision and detail, and efforts are underway to follow people with autism over longer periods to help understand the brain changes that mean they see the world, the researchers said. They see differently.

“As we follow this group of children from infancy through early adulthood, it really changes what we know about brain development,” says John Foxe, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester.

This research was published in the journal Autism Research.

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