Neuroscience 2005 Abstract
| Presentation Number: | 564.14 |
|---|---|
| Abstract Title: | The amygdala is enlarged in toddlers with autism: a structural MRI study. |
| Authors: |
Morgan, J. T.*1
; Courchesne, E.1
1Neurosciences, Univ. of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA |
| Primary Theme and Topics |
Disorders of the Nervous System - Developmental Disorders -- Genetic |
| Secondary Theme and Topics | Disorders of the Nervous System<br />- Developmental Disorders<br />-- Neuroimmunology and infections |
| Session: |
564. Autism and MECP2 Poster |
| Presentation Time: | Monday, November 14, 2005 2:00 PM-3:00 PM |
| Location: | Washington Convention Center - Hall A-C, Board # UU96 |
| Keywords: |
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose core features include abnormalities in social interaction, and which has been associated with both global and regionally focused overgrowth during the first years of life. Since the amygdala modulates a wide array of social behaviors, it is logical to look for structural amygdala abnormality in the young autistic brain. It has been previously shown that the amygdala is bilaterally enlarged in young (4 years) (Sparks et al, 2002) and older (7.5-12.5 years) (Schumann et al, 2004) children with autism. However, amygdala size in children younger than 4 years has not been examined, and there has been difficulty in replicating structural amygdala findings between studies using adult autistic subjects. We therefore performed a hand tracing of the amygdala in autistic and control subjects from a larger magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of brain development in autistic infants and toddlers. Autistic male subjects (n=15, age range 22.4-42.2 mos., mean 33.0 ± 6.1 mos.) with a provisional diagnosis of autism were structurally scanned under anaesthesia; the diagnosis was confirmed by follow-up on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule between 3 and 4 years of age. Control (n=18, 21.1-43.1 mos., mean 31.5 ± 7.0 mos.) subjects were scanned during natural sleep. The autistic subjects had significant enlargement of total amygdala volume (p=.003) as well as the right amygdala alone (p=.048), with a strong trend towards significance for the left amygdala (p=.060). This result remained significant after correction for the enlarged gray and white matter volumes seen in young autistic subjects for the right amygdala (p=.04) and was marginally significant for total amygdala volume (p=.051). The results extend previous findings of enlarged amygdala size in the developing autistic brain to a younger age range.
Supported by NIH/NINDS grant #5 R01 NS019855.
Sample Citation:
[Authors]. [Abstract Title]. Program No. XXX.XX. 2005 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
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