Regionally decreased gyrification in middle-aged adults with autism spectrum disorders

To examine changing features of cortical morphology in middle-aged adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) vs typical comparison (TC) participants, hypothesizing regionally decreased local gyrification index (lGI), given our previous findings of accelerated lGI decline during adolescence.

After quality assurance, T1-weighted MRI sequences from 20 participants with ASD and 21 TC participants (40-61 years) matched on age were analyzed. lGI, cortical thickness (CT), and surface area (SA) were measured with FreeSurfer version 5.3. Statistical analyses used a general linear model including age, nonverbal IQ, and total brain volume as covariates. Clusters of significant group effects were used as regions of interest for behavioral analyses.

Clusters of decreased lGI were observed bilaterally in the ASD group with large effect sizes in insular and anterior cingulate (ACC), left postcentral, and middle frontal and right orbitofrontal and supramarginal regions. lGI was also shown to decline with age across groups in bilateral precentral and right supramarginal clusters. No significant group, age, or group-by-age interaction effects were observed for CT or SA in this age group. lGI showed a significant correlation with Social Responsiveness Scale total scores in a right caudal ACC cluster in the TC group only, while several correlations were found in the ASD group between executive function scores and clusters in the bilateral insula and right orbitofrontal cortex.

The pattern of regionally decreased lGI observed here in middle-aged adults with ASDs is consistent with an abnormal trajectory of cortical folding changes across different stages of life in ASDs, as shown in previous studies.