ArticleTranslational psychiatry2021
Sensory over-responsivity is related to GABAergic inhibition in thalamocortical circuits.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Presymptomatic Biological, Structural, and Functional Diagnostic Biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Pooled it
- Neurometabolite differences in Autism as assessed with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis and open-source database for in vivo brain Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy in health and disease.Analytical biochemistry · 2023Pooled it
- Neurometabolite levels in the brains of patients with autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies (N = 1501).Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- HD-tDCS effects on social impairment in autism spectrum disorder with sensory processing abnormalities: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- High-dose Vitamin-B6 reduces sensory over-responsivity.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- How the Brain Interprets Pain in Autistic People: Does Sex Matter?European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Chronological Age and Adaptive Outcomes Following Neuropsychomotor and Aquatic Interventions in Children with Autism: A Secondary Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Hyperactivation of distinct thalamic nuclei differentially impairs sleep physiology in rats.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sensory Reactivity in Autism: Integrating Behavioural, Affective, Physiological, and Neural Dimensions.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Distinct sensory atypicalities bridge the gap between brain chemistry and motor dysfunction in autism.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Concordant transcriptional and morphological remodeling revealed bybioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Aperiodic and periodic neural activity during sleep in autism spectrum disorders.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Sensory Over-Responsivity in Autism: A Bidirectional Brain-Gut-Microbiome Model.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- A cascading effects model of early sensory development in autism.Psychological review · 2026Review
- Experience-dependent maturation of somatosensory parvalbumin interneurons during social development in prairie voles.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Infant sensory gating and a developmental cascade to autistic traits and anxiety.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Conceptualizing the substrates and sequelae of decreased sound tolerance as a developmental cascade: A pilot study.Hearing research · 2026Article
- A neuropsychological perspective on sensory hypersensitivity after acquired brain injury.Brain communications · 2026Review
- Cortical markers of excitation/inhibition balance are associated with sensory responsivity from infancy in longitudinal cohorts enriched for autism and ADHD.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sensory over-responsivity (SOR), extreme sensitivity to or avoidance of sensory stimuli (e.g., scratchy fabrics, loud sounds), is a highly prevalent and impairing feature of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), anxiety, and ADHD. Previous studies have found overactive brain responses and reduced modulation of thalamocortical connectivity in response to mildly aversive sensory stimulation in ASD. These findings suggest altered thalamic sensory gating which could be associated with an excitatory/inhibitory neurochemical imbalance, but such thalamic neurochemistry has never been examined in relation to SOR. Here we utilized magnetic resonance spectroscopy and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between thalamic and somatosensory cortex inhibitory (gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA) and excitatory (glutamate) neurochemicals with the intrinsic functional connectivity of those regions in 35 ASD and 35 typically developing pediatric subjects. Although there were no diagnostic group differences in neurochemical concentrations in either region, within the ASD group, SOR severity correlated negatively with thalamic GABA (r = -0.48, p < 0.05) and positively with somatosensory glutamate (r = 0.68, p < 0.01). Further, in the ASD group, thalamic GABA concentration predicted altered connectivity with regions previously implicated in SOR. These variations in GABA and associated network connectivity in the ASD group highlight the potential role of GABA as a mechanism underlying individual differences in SOR, a major source of phenotypic heterogeneity in ASD. In ASD, abnormalities of the thalamic neurochemical balance could interfere with the thalamic role in integrating, relaying, and inhibiting attention to sensory information. These results have implications for future research and GABA-modulating pharmacologic interventions.
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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.