ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2017
The Number of Parvalbumin-Expressing Interneurons Is Decreased in the Prefrontal Cortex in Autism.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 209 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
209 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 318 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurometabolite differences in Autism as assessed with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Treatment Response of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Intellectually Capable Youth and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2023Pooled it
- An ASXL3-thyroid hormone axis in parvalbumin interneurons controls autism-like behaviors.Science advances · 2026Article
- Catatonic Features That May Be Mistaken for Worsening Autism Show Treatment-Associated Improvement: Implications for Later Regression.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Electroconvulsive Therapy for Catatonia in Autistic and Non-Autistic Patients: An Observational Study on Course, Efficacy, Aggression, and Self-Injury Outcomes.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- ASD mutations in the ciliary gene CEP41 impact development of projection neurons and interneurons in a human cortical organoid model.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- CNTN6 Modulates Slit-Robo Signaling in Cortical GABAergic Interneuron Migration.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- Autism-like behavior induced by conditional ablation of the Bassoon gene in GABAergic interneurons.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Lower Striatal and Cortical Calretinin Interneuron Density Associated With Altered Social Behavior in Cntnap2 Knockout Mice.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Linking reduced prefrontal microcircuit inhibition in schizophrenia to EEG biomarkers in silico.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Prenatal valproic acid exposure alters striatal proteomic signatures associated with autism spectrum disorder in mice.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Modeling Prenatal Immune Activation in Human Brain Organoids Uncovers IL-6-Dependent Interneuron Dysmaturation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Hypoactivity, abnormal development of dendrites relevant to impaired synaptic transmission of calretinin-expressing interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex underlies social deficits of mouse model in autism.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Developmental trajectories of somatostatin-positive interneurons in the human auditory cortex from migration to maturation.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Aperiodic and periodic neural activity during sleep in autism spectrum disorders.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Astrocytic GABA controls fidelity of temporal cortical processing in Fragile X Syndrome.Neurobiology of disease · 2026Article
- In utero exposure to anti-Caspr2 antibody disrupts parvalbumin interneuron function in the hippocampus.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Applications and potential mechanisms of transcranial magnetic stimulation in autism spectrum disorders.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Psychedelic Modulation of Excitation/Inhibition Balance: A Dual-Phase Neurodevelopmental Model.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Deriving connectivity from spiking activity in detailed models of large-scale cortical microcircuits.iScience · 2026Article
149 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The cognitive phenotype of autism has been correlated with an altered balance of excitation to inhibition in the cerebral cortex, which could result from a change in the number, function, or morphology of GABA-expressing interneurons. The number of GABAergic interneuron subtypes has not been quantified in the autistic cerebral cortex. We classified interneurons into 3 subpopulations based on expression of the calcium-binding proteins parvalbumin, calbindin, or calretinin. We quantified the number of each interneuron subtype in postmortem neocortical tissue from 11 autistic cases and 10 control cases. Prefrontal Brodmann Areas (BA) BA46, BA47, and BA9 in autism and age-matched controls were analyzed by blinded researchers. We show that the number of parvalbumin+ interneurons in these 3 cortical areas-BA46, BA47, and BA9-is significantly reduced in autism compared with controls. The number of calbindin+ and calretinin+ interneurons did not differ in the cortical areas examined. Parvalbumin+ interneurons are fast-spiking cells that synchronize the activity of pyramidal cells through perisomatic and axo-axonic inhibition. The reduced number of parvalbumin+ interneurons could disrupt the balance of excitation/inhibition and alter gamma wave oscillations in the cerebral cortex of autistic subjects. These data will allow development of novel treatments specifically targeting parvalbumin interneurons.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.