title: Brief Report: alterations in cerebral blood flow as assessed by PET/CT in adults with autism spectrum disorder with normal IQ.
abstract: Specific biological markers for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have not yet been established. Functional studies have shown abnormalities in the anatomo-functional connectivity of the limbic-striatal "social" brain. This study aimed to investigate regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at rest. Thirteen patients with ASD of normal intelligence and ten IQ-, sex- and age-matched healthy controls (HC) underwent PET/CT using [1-(11)C]butanol, a perfusion tracer. As compared to HC, ASD showed significant CBF increases in the right parahippocampal, posterior cingulate, primary visual and temporal cortex, putamen, caudatus, substantia nigra and cerebellum. No statistically significant correlation between CBF and IQ was found. The limbic, posterior associative and cerebellar cortices showed increased blood flow in ASD, confirming previous findings about the neurobiology of ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. marco.pagani@istc.cnr.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagani
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Manouilenko
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stone-Elander
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Odh
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salmaso
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hatherly
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brolin
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacobsson
authors.forename: Stig A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bejerot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed