ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2025
Brain Cortical Volume and Thickness Abnormalities in Autism Spectrum Disorder Aged 2-4 Years: a Structural MRI Comparative Study.
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Behavioral Assessment Reliability in Clinical Phenotyping and Biomarker Research for Autism.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Neuroplasticity mechanisms of NDBIs in autism: a review from brain connectivity to behavioral improvement.European journal of medical research · 2026Review
- Age-stratified multimodal MRI and machine learning to explore autism-related brain characteristics in youth.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine the brain morphological characteristics of 2-to-4-year-olds with ASD, including cortical and subcortical regions, and to investigate their associations with clinical behaviors.
methodsA total of 43 toddlers with ASD aged 2-4 years, 44 age- and gender- matched toddlers with developmental delay (DD) and 18 typically developing (TD) children were recruited. All participants underwent whole-brain high-resolution MRI and clinical assessments. Brain structural data were analyzed using Surface-Based Morphometry with FreeSurfer. Linear mixed-effects models were employed to identify differences in brain regions between groups and to explore their links with clinical behaviors.
resultsCompared to TD group, ASD group demonstrated increased cortical thickness and volume, particularly within the frontal and parietal brain regions (FDR, p < 0.05). When compared to DD, ASD group exhibited a distinction in the increased cortical volume within the posterior frontal lobe and middle-post cingulate (FDR, p < 0.05). DD children had increased cortical thickness and cortical volume in the superior parietal gyrus compared to TD (FDR, p < 0.05). In the ASD + DD group, increased cortical thickness of the superior frontal sulcus was correlated with lower adaptive behavior, while reduced nucleus accumbens volume and increased cortical thickness of the superior frontal sulcus and precentral sulcus were associated with decreased language development (FDR, p < 0.05).
conclusionOur study found widespread brain abnormalities in young children with ASD, notably altered cortical volume and thickness in frontal and parietal lobes. These findings may serve as important indicators of altered brain development trajectories in this population.
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