Brain perivascular spaces and autism: clinical and pathogenic implications from an innovative volumetric MRI study

Our single-center case-control study aimed to evaluate the unclear glymphatic system alteration in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through an innovative neuroimaging tool which allows to segment and quantify perivascular spaces in the white matter (WM-PVS) with filtering of non-structured noise and i...

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Veröffentlicht in:Frontiers in neuroscience Jg. 17; S. 1205489
Hauptverfasser: Sotgiu, Maria Alessandra, Lo Jacono, Alessandro, Barisano, Giuseppe, Saderi, Laura, Cavassa, Vanna, Montella, Andrea, Crivelli, Paola, Carta, Alessandra, Sotgiu, Stefano
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 23.06.2023
Frontiers Media S.A
Schlagworte:
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Autism
Brain research
Cerebrospinal fluid
Children & youth
Cognitive ability
Comorbidity
Epidemiology
Epilepsy
glymphatic system
Hyperactivity
Intellectual disabilities
Interviews
Males
Medical records
Missing data
MRI
Neuroimaging
Neuroscience
Parenchyma
Patients
perivascular spaces
Risk factors
Sleep disorders
Substantia alba
Virchow-Robin spaces
Italy
perivascular spaces
MRI
glymphatic system
Virchow-Robin spaces
autism
ISSN:1662-453X, 1662-4548, 1662-453X
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Zusammenfassung:Our single-center case-control study aimed to evaluate the unclear glymphatic system alteration in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through an innovative neuroimaging tool which allows to segment and quantify perivascular spaces in the white matter (WM-PVS) with filtering of non-structured noise and increase of the contrast-ratio between perivascular spaces and the surrounding parenchyma. Briefly, files of 65 ASD and 71 control patients were studied. We considered: ASD type, diagnosis and severity level and comorbidities (i.e., intellectual disability, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, sleep disturbances). We also examined diagnoses other than ASD and their associated comorbidities in the control group. When males and females with ASD are included together, WM-PVS grade and WM-PVS volume do not significantly differ between the ASD group and the control group overall. We found, instead, that WM-PVS volume is significantly associated with male sex: males had higher WM-PVS volume compared to females (p = 0.01). WM-PVS dilation is also non-significantly associated with ASD severity and younger age (< 4 years). In ASD patients, higher WM-PVS volume was related with insomnia whereas no relation was found with epilepsy or IQ. We concluded that WM-PVS dilation can be a neuroimaging feature of male ASD patients, particularly the youngest and most severe ones, which may rely on male-specific risk factors acting early during neurodevelopment, such as a transient excess of extra-axial CSF volume. Our findings can corroborate the well-known strong male epidemiological preponderance of autism worldwide.
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These authors have contributed equally to this work
Reviewed by: Elysa Jill Marco, Cortica Healthcare, United States; Gavin Elias, University of Toronto, Canada
Edited by: Jurgen Germann, University Health Network (UHN), Canada
ISSN:1662-453X
1662-4548
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2023.1205489