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Updated: May 6, 2026
Probing the Brain in Autism Using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: September 12, 2011
Differences in white matter reflect atypical developmental trajectory in autism: A Tract-based Spatial Statistics
Reyhaneh Bakhtiari1, Nicole R Zürcher, Ophélie Rogier
1Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ; Department of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran ; Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which white matter (WM) maturation is affected. We assessed WM integrity in 16 adolescents and 14 adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and in matched neurotypical controls (NT) using diffusion weighted imaging and Tract-based Spatial Statistics. Decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed in adolescents with ASD in tracts involved in emotional face processing, language, and executive functioning, including the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and the inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi. Remarkably, no differences in FA were observed between ASD and NT adults. We evaluated the effect of age on WM development across the entire age range. Positive correlations between FA values and age were observed in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, the left superior longitudinal fasciculus, the corpus callosum, and the cortical spinal tract of ASD participants, but not in NT participants. Our data underscore the dynamic nature of brain development in ASD, showing the presence of an atypical process of WM maturation, that appears to normalize over time and could be at the basis of behavioral improvements often observed in high-functioning autism.
