Results

Between-group comparison: There is no significant difference between the two groups. However, the trend is observable and consistent that
ASD group has thicker CTs of all the ROIs and lower GFA values of all the tracts than TD. (Figure 1)
Within-group correlation: The results show that in the TD individuals, the CTs of adjacent ROIs are all highly positively correlated and all the
correlation coefficients reach the significance (p<.05). However, the ASD group shows apparently weaker correlation between the ROIs, and
none of the correlation coefficients reach significance. (Figure 2)
MNS structure and the social performance: The significant negative correlation was found between the GFA value of rP_S and the SCQ social
communication score. No other significant correlation was found between the structural values and the social assessment scores. (Figure 3)
The structure of mirror neuron system and its correlation
with social performance in adolescents and young adults
with autism a DSI study
1
Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan,
2
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taiwan, Taiwan
Background
Perception and understanding of the actions done by others are always important for humans to form the social connections. Mirror neuron
system (MNS), which covers the language area as well as the motor area and has been found activating during observation and imitation in
the human brain, is widely considered an indispensable mechanism processing the human social behavior. Mainly characterized by the social
deficits, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder, has been reported functional dysfunction in the MNS areas during
observation and imitation tasks, which also related to the daily social performance of these children [1]. However, the structure of MNS has
not been carefully investigated in ASD patients. In the current study, we combined two neuroimaging techniques to explore the macro-
[cortical thickness(CT)] and micro-[white matter tracts] structures of MNS in ASD and typically developed controls (TD); further, we
investigated the relationship between structural values and the social scores in adolescents and young adults with ASD.
Methods
Participants and imaging acquisition: 60 subjects were recruited (ASD=30, TD=30, age 14-25 years). The full-scaled IQ of all subjects are
above 70. T1-weighted images of the whole head were acquired using a 3D magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequence,
repetition time (TR)=2530 ms; echo time (TE)=3.4 ms; slice thickness=1.0 mm; matrix size=256256; and field of view (FOV)=256256mm.
DSI data were acquired by a twice-refocused balanced echo diffusion echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence, TR/TE = 9600/130 ms, image
matrix size = 80 x 80, spatial resolution = 2.5 x 2.5 mm2, and slice thickness = 2.5 mm. 102 diffusion encoding gradients with the maximum
diffusion sensitivity bmax = 4000 s/mm2 were sampled on the grid points in a half sphere of the 3D q-space with |q| 3.6 units.
Hsiang-Yun Chien
1
, Yu-Chun Lo
1
, Yu-Jen Chen
1
, Yung-Chin Hsu
1
, Yao-Chia Shih
1
, Susan Shur Fen Gau
2
Wen-Yih Isaac Tseng
1
Figure 1 the ROIs and tracts on SSD
Figure 2 correlation between rP_S and SCQ
social communication scores
Data analysis: Freesurfer software was used to automatically segment the whole brain areas of each subject,
and calculated the CT. Tract-specific analysis was performed using a template-based approach[2], which the
four tracts connecting the adjacent ROIs were reconstructed on the study-specific template (SSD) using DSI
studio (Fig. 1) The between-group comparisons were conducted using two-sample t-test. To investigate and
compare the structural correlation within MNS network, within-group spearman correlations of CTs were
conducted. Finally, the correlations between the structural values and the social related scores of ASD group
were done to find the possible relationship between structural MNS and the social performance.
Figure 3 correlation matrix within group
0.25
0.26
0.27
0.28
0.29
0.3
0.31
0.32
0.33
0.34
CC_POP CC_SMG lPOP_SMG rPOP_SMG
GFA
ASD
TD
2.5
2.55
2.6
2.65
2.7
2.75
2.8
2.85
2.9
lPOP lSMG rPOP rSMG
CT
ASD
TD
Figure 1 between-group
comparison of CT and GFA values.
Discussion
Combining two MRI techniques to investigate the structural MNS in ASD, we found no significant difference comparing the two groups. This
may due to the different age effect on the structural development between ASD and TD [3]. However, we found the CT correlation within ASD
group is weaker than that within TD group, which infer that the structure of the network in ASD grows not as consistently as that in TD, and
may influence the function of MNS. The correlation between social communication score and rP_S but not lP_S is different from the previous
studies reported the language lateralization in TD, and this may imply that ASD rely more on the right side tract to process the communication.
Reference
[1] Dapretto et al.,
Nat Neurosci. 2006
[2] Y.C. Hsu et al.,
Neuroimage. 2012
[3] Doyle-Thomas
et al., Res Autism
Spectr Disord.
2013
Sampling the
individual
GFA values
average T1
segmentation
to determine
the ROIs
Fiber tracking
on the SSD
average DSI template Individual DSI space
freesurfer space How did we
combine
freesurfer
& DSI ?
Pop= Pars Opercularis
Smg= Supramarginal gyrus
CC= Corpus callosum