BACKGROUND: Qualitative reports of the cerebral cortex in a small number of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases have suggested an increase in thickness and disruptions in migration and lamination patterns. METHODS: We examined postmortem ASD individuals and age-matched controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate total cortical thickness, and histological samples to evaluate the pattern of cortical layering. RESULTS: Overall, thickness measures from ASD subjects were equivalent to control cases. Individual regions showed marginal but nonsignificant thickness differences in the temporal lobes. Cortical thickness values in ASD subjects decreased significantly with age. Quantitative examination of proportional layer thickness in histological sections indicated that the pattern of cortical layering was largely undisturbed, while qualitative examination of these same samples revealed evidence of cell clustering and supernumerary cells in layer I and the subplate. These features were not severe and were never found in a majority of cases. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support limited disturbances in cortical cell patterning, but do not indicate a major deficit in the orderly migration of cortical neuroblasts during development, or their subsequent aggregation into the laminar pattern found in typically developing individuals.
BACKGROUND: Qualitative reports of the cerebral cortex in a small number of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases have suggested an increase in thickness and disruptions in migration and lamination patterns. METHODS: We examined postmortem ASD individuals and age-matched controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate total cortical thickness, and histological samples to evaluate the pattern of cortical layering. RESULTS: Overall, thickness measures from ASD subjects were equivalent to control cases. Individual regions showed marginal but nonsignificant thickness differences in the temporal lobes. Cortical thickness values in ASD subjects decreased significantly with age. Quantitative examination of proportional layer thickness in histological sections indicated that the pattern of cortical layering was largely undisturbed, while qualitative examination of these same samples revealed evidence of cell clustering and supernumerary cells in layer I and the subplate. These features were not severe and were never found in a majority of cases. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support limited disturbances in cortical cell patterning, but do not indicate a major deficit in the orderly migration of cortical neuroblasts during development, or their subsequent aggregation into the laminar pattern found in typically developing individuals.
Authors: Saashi A Bedford; Min Tae M Park; Gabriel A Devenyi; Stephanie Tullo; Jurgen Germann; Raihaan Patel; Evdokia Anagnostou; Simon Baron-Cohen; Edward T Bullmore; Lindsay R Chura; Michael C Craig; Christine Ecker; Dorothea L Floris; Rosemary J Holt; Rhoshel Lenroot; Jason P Lerch; Michael V Lombardo; Declan G M Murphy; Armin Raznahan; Amber N V Ruigrok; Elizabeth Smith; Michael D Spencer; John Suckling; Margot J Taylor; Audrey Thurm; Meng-Chuan Lai; M Mallar Chakravarty Journal: Mol Psychiatry Date: 2019-04-26 Impact factor: 15.992
Authors: Rich Stoner; Maggie L Chow; Maureen P Boyle; Ed S Lein; Eric Courchesne; Susan M Sunkin; Peter R Mouton; Subhojit Roy; Anthony Wynshaw-Boris; Sophia A Colamarino Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2014-03-27 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Manuel F Casanova; Ayman El-Baz; Meghan Mott; Glenn Mannheim; Hossam Hassan; Rachid Fahmi; Jay Giedd; Judith M Rumsey; Andrew E Switala; Aly Farag Journal: J Autism Dev Disord Date: 2009-01-16