BRAIN VOLUMES IN AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY – A MRI STUDY

BRAIN VOLUMES IN AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY – A MRI STUDY

Predescu, E., Sipos, P., Sipos, R., Iftene, F., & Balázsi, R. (2010). BRAIN VOLUMES IN AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY -- A MRI STUDY. Journal Of Cognitive & Behavioral Psychotherapies, 10(1), 25-38

            I chose this article because I am very interested in learning about the brain in relation to Autism Spectrum Disorder. I feel that this article is very informative about how the brain is related to children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders such as Developmentally Delayed (DD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In this article they looked at the differences in brain volume among children with DD and ASD. According to previous research, Total brain volume (TBV) grows rapidly in the first 2-4 years of life. Grey matter (GM) volume reaches a peak between ages 4 and 6, then decreases constantly while white matter (WM) volume increases in the first decade of life and then stays relatively stable (Courchesne et al., 2000; Matsuzawa et al., 2001;Pfefferbaum et al., 1994). Also, according to previous research the brain dysfunction in children with autism correlates with the whole brain as well as many different areas of the brain including prefrontal cortex, the limbic system, and the cerebellum.  With autism, MRI studies in autism reported alterations in the total brain volume and particularly in the cerebellum, frontal lobe and limbic system. Significant differences in volume have been frequently observed in the level of white matter, especially in radial, sagital and the bridging compartment (Herbert, Ziegler, & Makris, 2004). In this study they aimed to identify brain structure similarities and differences between ASD and DD that could support the differential diagnosis of these at an early age.  They also wanted to see if the scores on the CBCL subscale and brain volume measures were linked. There were 25 participants ages 2 to 8, 15 had ASD diagnosis for the DSM-IV and 10 had DD diagnosis for the DSM-IV. MRI studies were done on all of the participants as well as the parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (CBLC). During their testing they also looked at the participants SES, age, parent’s education, and environment to reduce confounds. In this study they found no significant differences regarding age, weight, SES, parents’ education, and environment. The TBV in both groups did not differ significantly, the GM and WM in ASD children was slightly higher than DD children. This study also found a correlation between brain volume and the scores on the CBCL, the ASD showing a negative correlation and the DD  only showing a positive correlation. This study is very important to the treatment and early detection of these two disorders.

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