Associations between thalamocortical functional connectivity and sensory over-responsivity in infants at high likelihood for ASD.
Cereb Cortex
; 33(12): 8075-8086, 2023 06 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37005061
ABSTRACT
Despite growing evidence implicating thalamic functional connectivity atypicalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it remains unclear how such alterations emerge early in human development. Because the thalamus plays a critical role in sensory processing and neocortical organization early in life, its connectivity with other cortical regions could be key for studying the early onset of core ASD symptoms. Here, we investigated emerging thalamocortical functional connectivity in infants at high (HL) and typical (TL) familial likelihood for ASD in early and late infancy. We report significant thalamo-limbic hyperconnectivity in 1.5-month-old HL infants, and thalamo-cortical hypoconnectivity in prefrontal and motor regions in 9-month-old HL infants. Importantly, early sensory over-responsivity (SOR) symptoms in HL infants predicted a direct trade-off in thalamic connectivity whereby stronger thalamic connectivity with primary sensory regions and basal ganglia was inversely related to connectivity with higher order cortices. This trade-off suggests that ASD may be characterized by early differences in thalamic gating. The patterns reported here could directly underlie atypical sensory processing and attention to social vs. nonsocial stimuli observed in ASD. These findings lend support to a theoretical framework of ASD whereby early disruptions in sensorimotor processing and attentional biases early in life may cascade into core ASD symptomatology.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtorno do Espectro Autista
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
/
Infant
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article