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

• Published in: Brain sciences Vol. 13; no. 2; p. 280
• Main Authors: Wang, Yonglu, Xu, Lingxi, Fang, Hui, Wang, Fei, Gao, Tianshu, Zhu, Qingyao, Jiao, Gongkai, Ke, Xiaoyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.02.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Autism; autism spectrum disorder; Behavior; Brain; brain functional network; Brain research; Cerebrospinal fluid; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Children & youth; Cingulum; Cognition; Communication; Comparative analysis; Data smoothing; functional connectivity; Hospitals; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Neural networks; Physiology; Postcentral gyrus; Precentral gyrus; Questionnaires; Social aspects; Social behavior; Social interaction; Social interactions; Social networks; Social organization; social-related brain regions; Stereotyped behavior; Supplementary motor area; brain functional network; functional connectivity; social-related brain regions; autism spectrum disorder; stereotyped behavior
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020280

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. 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. 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 < 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 < 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 < 0.01), and with the total score of SCQ (r = -0.27, < 0.01). In addition, significant intergroup differences in clustering coefficients and betweenness centrality were seen across multiple brain regions in the ASD group. 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.