Bridging the gap between MRI and postmortem research in autism

Abstract Autism is clearly a disorder of neural development, but when, where, and how brain pathology occurs remain elusive. Typical brain development is comprised of several stages, including proliferation and migration of neurons, creation of dendritic arbors and synaptic connections, and eventual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research 2011-03, Vol.1380, p.175-186
Main Authors: Schumann, Cynthia Mills, Nordahl, Christine Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Amygdala
Autistic Disorder - pathology
Autistic Disorder - physiopathology
Brain - abnormalities
Brain - pathology
Brain - physiopathology
Cerebellum
Diagnosis
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - trends
Neurodevelopment
Neuroimaging
Neurology
Neuropathology
Volume
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Summary:Abstract Autism is clearly a disorder of neural development, but when, where, and how brain pathology occurs remain elusive. Typical brain development is comprised of several stages, including proliferation and migration of neurons, creation of dendritic arbors and synaptic connections, and eventually dendritic pruning and programmed cell death. Any deviation at one or more of these stages could produce catastrophic downstream effects. MRI studies of autism have provided important clues, describing an aberrant trajectory of growth during early childhood that is both present in the whole brain and marked in specific structures such as the amygdala. However, given the coarse resolution of MRI, the field must also look towards postmortem human brain research to help elucidate the neurobiological underpinnings of MRI volumetric findings. Likewise, studies of postmortem tissue may benefit by looking to the findings from MRI studies to narrow hypotheses and target specific brain regions and subject populations. In this review, we discuss the strengths, limitations, and major contributions of each approach to autism research. We then describe how they relate and what they can learn from each other. Only by integrating these approaches will we be able to fully explain the neuropathology of autism.
ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/j.brainres.2010.09.061