Increased gray-matter volume in medication-naive high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder.
BACKGROUND
To establish whether high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have enlarged brains in later childhood, and if so, whether this enlargement is confined to the gray and/or to the white matter and whether it is global or more prominent in specific brain regions.


METHODS
Brain MRI scans were acquired from 21 medication-naive, high-functioning children with ASD between 7 and 15 years of age and 21 comparison subjects matched for gender, age, IQ, height, weight, handedness, and parental education, but not pubertal status.


RESULTS
Patients showed a significant increase of 6% in intracranium, total brain, cerebral gray matter, cerebellum, and of more than 40% in lateral and third ventricles compared to controls. The cortical gray-matter volume was evenly affected in all lobes. After correction for brain volume, ventricular volumes remained significantly larger in patients.


CONCLUSIONS
High-functioning children with ASD showed a global increase in gray-matter, but not white-matter and cerebellar volume, proportional to the increase in brain volume, and a disproportional increase in ventricular volumes, still present after correction for brain volume. Advanced pubertal development in the patients compared to the age-matched controls may have contributed to the findings reported in the present study.
Palmen
Saskia J M C
SJ
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. s.palmen@azu.nl
Hulshoff Pol
Hilleke E
HE
Kemner
Chantal
C
Schnack
Hugo G
HG
Durston
Sarah
S
Lahuis
Bertine E
BE
Kahn
René S
RS
Van Engeland
Herman
H
D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic