Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with changes in cortical volume. The constituents of cortical volume – cortical thickness and surface area – have separable developmental trajectories and are related to different neurobiological processes. However, lit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2017-01-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158216302406 |
| _version_ | 1818243136837648384 |
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| author | Vincent T. Mensen Lara M. Wierenga Sarai van Dijk Yvonne Rijks Bob Oranje René C.W. Mandl Sarah Durston |
| author_facet | Vincent T. Mensen Lara M. Wierenga Sarai van Dijk Yvonne Rijks Bob Oranje René C.W. Mandl Sarah Durston |
| author_sort | Vincent T. Mensen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with changes in cortical volume. The constituents of cortical volume – cortical thickness and surface area – have separable developmental trajectories and are related to different neurobiological processes. However, little is known about the developmental trajectories of cortical thickness and surface area in ASD. In this magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, we used an accelerated longitudinal design to investigate the cortical development in 90 individuals with ASD and 90 typically developing controls, aged 9 to 20 years. We quantified cortical measures using the FreeSurfer software package, and then used linear mixed model analyses to estimate the developmental trajectories for each cortical measure. Our primary finding was that the development of surface area follows a linear trajectory in ASD that differs from typically developing controls. In typical development, we found a decline in cortical surface area between the ages of 9 and 20 that was absent in ASD. We found this pattern in all regions where developmental trajectories for surface area differed between groups. When we applied a more stringent correction that takes the interdependency of measures into account, this effect on cortical surface area retained significance for left banks of superior temporal sulcus, postcentral area, and right supramarginal area. These areas have previously been implicated in ASD and are involved in the interpretation and processing of audiovisual social stimuli and distinction between self and others. Although some differences in cortical volume and thickness were found, none survived the more stringent correction for multiple testing. This study underscores the importance of distinguishing between cortical surface area and thickness in investigating cortical development, and suggests the development of cortical surface area is of importance to ASD. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T13:56:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ee8df443c274eefb85dd2c8ca17b25e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2213-1582 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T13:56:20Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ee8df443c274eefb85dd2c8ca17b25e2022-12-22T00:22:28ZengElsevierNeuroImage: Clinical2213-15822017-01-0113C21522210.1016/j.nicl.2016.12.003Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorderVincent T. MensenLara M. WierengaSarai van DijkYvonne RijksBob OranjeRené C.W. MandlSarah DurstonAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with changes in cortical volume. The constituents of cortical volume – cortical thickness and surface area – have separable developmental trajectories and are related to different neurobiological processes. However, little is known about the developmental trajectories of cortical thickness and surface area in ASD. In this magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, we used an accelerated longitudinal design to investigate the cortical development in 90 individuals with ASD and 90 typically developing controls, aged 9 to 20 years. We quantified cortical measures using the FreeSurfer software package, and then used linear mixed model analyses to estimate the developmental trajectories for each cortical measure. Our primary finding was that the development of surface area follows a linear trajectory in ASD that differs from typically developing controls. In typical development, we found a decline in cortical surface area between the ages of 9 and 20 that was absent in ASD. We found this pattern in all regions where developmental trajectories for surface area differed between groups. When we applied a more stringent correction that takes the interdependency of measures into account, this effect on cortical surface area retained significance for left banks of superior temporal sulcus, postcentral area, and right supramarginal area. These areas have previously been implicated in ASD and are involved in the interpretation and processing of audiovisual social stimuli and distinction between self and others. Although some differences in cortical volume and thickness were found, none survived the more stringent correction for multiple testing. This study underscores the importance of distinguishing between cortical surface area and thickness in investigating cortical development, and suggests the development of cortical surface area is of importance to ASD.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158216302406Autism spectrum disorderSurface areaCortical thicknessMRIDevelopmentCortex |
| spellingShingle | Vincent T. Mensen Lara M. Wierenga Sarai van Dijk Yvonne Rijks Bob Oranje René C.W. Mandl Sarah Durston Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder NeuroImage: Clinical Autism spectrum disorder Surface area Cortical thickness MRI Development Cortex |
| title | Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| title_full | Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| title_fullStr | Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| title_short | Development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| title_sort | development of cortical thickness and surface area in autism spectrum disorder |
| topic | Autism spectrum disorder Surface area Cortical thickness MRI Development Cortex |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158216302406 |
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