title: Diminished gray matter within the hypothalamus in autism disorder: a potential link to hormonal effects?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Subjects with autism suffer from impairments of social interaction, deviations in language usage, as well as restricted and stereotyped patterns of behavior. These characteristics are found irrespective of age, IQ, and gender of affected subjects. However, brain changes due to age, IQ, and gender might pose potential confounds in autism neuroimaging analyses.
  
  
  METHODS
  To investigate gray matter differences in autism that are not related to these potential confounds, we performed a voxel-based morphometry analysis in 52 affected children and adolescents and 52 matched control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed diminished gray matter in a region of the hypothalamus, which synthesizes the behaviorally relevant hormones oxytocin and arginine vasopressin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This finding provides support for further investigations of the theory of abnormal functioning of this hormonal system in autism and potentially for experimental therapeutic approaches with oxytocin and related neuropeptides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza 47-417, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759, USA. fkurth@loni.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kurth
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Narr
authors.forename: Roger P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Jeffry R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Alger
authors.forename: Rochelle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caplan
authors.forename: James T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: McCracken
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga
authors.forename: Jennifer G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Levitt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D036421:Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D009929:Organ Size; D010909:Pituitary Hormones, Posterior / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010909:Pituitary Hormones, Posterior