Reduced Brain Activation in Response to Social Cognition Tasks in Autism Spectrum Disorder with and without Depression

• Published in: Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment 2021-01, Vol.17, p.3015-3024
• Main Authors: Ohtani, Toshiyuki, Matsuo, Koji, Sutoh, Chihiro, Oshima, Fumiyo, Hirano, Yoshiyuki, Wakabayashi, Akio, Shimizu, Eiji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autism; autism spectrum disorder; Brain; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; depression comorbidity; Depression, Mental; Electric properties; emotional face recognition; Emotions; Frontal lobes; frontotemporal activation; functional near-infrared spectroscopy; Infrared spectroscopy; Mental depression; Neuroimaging; Original Research; Pattern recognition; Pervasive developmental disorders; Physiological aspects; Prefrontal cortex; social cognition; Social interactions; Socialization; Students; Temporal cortex; Temporal lobes; Young adults
• ISSN: 1176-6328; 1178-2021; 1178-2021
• DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S327608

In clinical settings, diagnosing comorbid depression in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often difficult. Neuroimaging studies have reported reduced activation of frontal and temporal regions during emotional face recognition task (EFRT) in ASD and depression. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has examined differences in frontotemporal activation during EFRT between ASD with and without comorbid depression. We aimed to compare the frontotemporal hemodynamic responses to the EFRT in ASD with and without depression and to find clues to help in discriminating the characteristics between them. In 24 drug-naïve young adults with ASD (12 with depression [ASD-Dep(+)] and 12 without depression [ASD-Dep(-)]) and 12 with typical development (TD), frontotemporal hemodynamic responses during an EFRT were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The ASD groups showed reduced activation during EFRT than the TD group in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). Moreover, the ASD-Dep(+) group showed reduced activation during EFRT than the ASD-Dep(-) group in the right anterior temporal cortex (aTC), and reduced activation than the TD group in the left VLPFC. The observed results might reflect reduced regional activation in ASD and ASD with comorbid depression.