Disorder-Specific Alteration in White Matter Structural Property in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder Relative to Adults With ADHD and Adult Controls

Abstract

Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not only often comorbid but also overlapped in behavioral and cognitive abnormalities. Little is known about whether these shared phenotypes are based on common or different underlying neuropathologies. Therefore, this study aims to examine the disorder-specific alterations in white matter (WM) structural property.

Method: The three comparison groups included 23 male adults with ASD (21.4 ± 3.1 years), 32 male adults with ADHD (23.4 ± 3.3 years), and 29 age-matched healthy male controls (22.4 ± 3.3 years). After acquisition of the diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI), whole brain tractography was reconstructed by a tract-based automatic analysis. Generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) values were computed to indicate tract-specific WM property with adjusted P value < 0.05 for false discovery rate correction.

Results: Post hoc analyses revealed that men with ASD exhibited significant lower GFA values than men with ADHD and male controls in six identified fiber tracts: the right arcuate fasciculus, right cingulum (hippocampal part), anterior commissure, and three callosal fibers (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex part, precentral part, superior temporal part). There was no significant difference in the GFA values of any of the fiber tracts between men with ADHD and controls. In men with ASD, the GFA values of the right arcuate fasciculus and right cingulum (hippocampal part) were negatively associated with autistic social-deficit symptoms, and the anterior commissure GFA value was positively correlated with intelligence.

Conclusions: This study highlights the disorder-specific alteration of the microstructural property of WM tracts in male adults with ASD. Hum Brain Mapp 38:384-395, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01582256 NCT01247610.

Keywords: attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; autism spectrum disorder; diffusion spectrum imaging; tractography; white matter.

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1

The analysis workflow of template‐based approach. Abbreviations: DSI, diffusion spectrum imaging; SST, study‐specific template; GFA, generalized fractional anisotropy. [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Figure 2

Reconstruction of the white matter tracts with significant differences between autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. These tracts include A) the right arcuate fasciculus, B) the right hippocampal cingulum, C) the anterior commissure, D) the corpus callosum, connecting bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortices, E) the corpus callosum connecting bilateral precentral gyri, and F) the corpus callosum connecting bilateral superior temporal parts. [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Figure 3

Correlation between the mean generalized fractional anisotropy values of the white matter tracts and social deficit and intelligence in men with autism spectrum disorder. We found negative associations between A) the right arcuate fasciculus GFA value and the mindreading subscale of the AQ‐Chinese, B) the right hippocampal cingulum and the socialness subscale in the AQ‐Chinese, and C) the right hippocampal cingulum and the social awareness subscale of the SRS. Abbreviations: AQ, the Chinese version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient; SRS, the Chinese version of the Social Responsiveness Scale.