Results of the study conducted at the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Bethpage, N.Y. found that there were increased areas of gray matter in the brains of children with autism.
Using a new imaging technique researchers found autistic children had increased gray matter in the parietal lobes which has previously been implicated in the mirror neuron system. Mirror neurons are brain cells that are active when an individual is performing and action and experiencing an emotion or sensation and when the person witnesses the same actions, emotions and sensations in others. This system allows humans to learn by seeing as well as by doing.
The study consisted of 13 male patients with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome with an IQ over 70 and 12 healthy control teens. Each patient underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a technique that tracks water molecules in the brain. DTI is usually used to study white matter and brain fibers but scientists applied it to assess gray matter by employing a different method.
"In the normal brain, larger amounts of gray matter are associated with higher IQs," said lead author Manzar Ashtari, Ph.D., from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. "But in the autistic brain, increased gray matter does not correspond to IQ, because this gray matter is not functioning properly."
The children also showed a significant decrease of gray matter in the right amygdala that correlated with severity of social impairment. The children with lower gray matter volume had lower scores on social interaction measures.
The study was presented presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
[Source: PRNewsWire]
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