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. 2023 Feb 7;13(2):280.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci13020280.

Social Brain Network of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Characterization of Functional Connectivity and Potential Association with Stereotyped Behavior

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Social Brain Network of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Characterization of Functional Connectivity and Potential Association with Stereotyped Behavior

Yonglu Wang et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Objective: To identify patterns of social dysfunction in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), study the potential linkage between social brain networks and stereotyped behavior, and further explore potential targets of non-invasive nerve stimulation to improve social disorders. Methods: Voxel-wise and ROI-wise analysis methods were adopted to explore abnormalities in the functional activity of social-related regions of the brain. Then, we analyzed the relationships between clinical variables and the statistical indicators of social-related brain regions. Results: Compared with the typically developing group, the functional connectivity strength of social-related brain regions with the precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, paracentral lobule, median cingulum, and paracingulum gyri was significantly weakened in the ASD group (all p < 0. 01). The functional connectivity was negatively correlated with communication, social interaction, communication + social interaction, and the total score of the ADOS scale (r = -0.38, -0.39, -0.40, and -0.3, respectively; all p < 0.01), with social awareness, social cognition, social communication, social motivation, autistic mannerisms, and the total score of the SRS scale (r = -0.32, -0.32, -0.40, -0.30, -0.28, and -0.27, respectively; all p < 0.01), and with the total score of SCQ (r = -0.27, p < 0.01). In addition, significant intergroup differences in clustering coefficients and betweenness centrality were seen across multiple brain regions in the ASD group. Conclusions: The functional connectivity between social-related brain regions and many other brain regions was significantly weakened compared to the typically developing group, and it was negatively correlated with social disorders. Social network dysfunction seems to be related to stereotyped behavior. Therefore, these social-related brain regions may be taken as potential stimulation targets of non-invasive nerve stimulation to improve social dysfunction in children with ASD in the future.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; brain functional network; functional connectivity; social-related brain regions; stereotyped behavior.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The averaged brain networks of the ASD and TD groups. (a) The averaged brain networks of the ASD group. (b) The averaged brain networks of the TD group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Statistical results of group differences analysis between ASD and TD: (a) The statistical results of those voxels with significant group differences. (b) The brain mapping results of those voxels with significant group differences. (c) The boxplot visualization results of the 10 brain regions with the largest differences.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The correlation between clinical characteristics and functional connectivity strength.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Statistical results of brain networks: (a) The results of group comparison analysis of the functional connection of brain networks. (b) The results of group comparison analysis of the graph metrics.

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