TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex differences in functional connectivity of the salience, default mode, and central executive networks in youth with asd
AU - Lawrence, Katherine E.
AU - Hernandez, Leanna M.
AU - Bowman, Hilary C.
AU - Padgaonkar, Namita T.
AU - Fuster, Emily
AU - Jack, Allison
AU - Aylward, Elizabeth
AU - Gaab, Nadine
AU - VanHorn, John D.
AU - Bernier, Raphael A.
AU - Geschwind, Daniel H.
AU - McPartland, James C.
AU - Nelson, Charles A.
AU - Webb, Sara J.
AU - Pelphrey, Kevin A.
AU - Green, Shulamite A.
AU - Bookheimer, Susan Y.
AU - Dapretto, Mirella
N1 - Funding Information:
The National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH100028 to K.A.P., F31MH110140 to K.E.L., and F32MH105167 to S.A.G.), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (T32NS048004 to K.E.L. and F99NS105206 to L.M.H.), the National Science Foundation (Graduate Research Fellowship 1650604 to N.T.P.), the University of California Los Angeles Dissertation Year Fellowship Program, and the ARCS Foundation. We are also grateful for the generous support from the Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, Brain Mapping Support Foundation, Pierson-Lovelace Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund, and Northstar Fund. Research reported in this publication was also partially supported by the National Center for Research Resources and by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under grant numbers C06RR012169, C06RR015431, and S10OD011939. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with the altered functional connectivity of 3 neurocognitive networks that are hypothesized to be central to the symptomatology of ASD: The salience network (SN), default mode network (DMN), and central executive network (CEN). Due to the considerably higher prevalence of ASD in males, however, previous studies examining these networks in ASD have used primarily male samples. It is thus unknown how these networks may be differentially impacted among females with ASD compared to males with ASD, and how such differences may compare to those observed in neurotypical individuals. Here, we investigated the functional connectivity of the SN, DMN, and CEN in a large, well-matched sample of girls and boys with and without ASD (169 youth, ages 8-17). Girls with ASD displayed greater functional connectivity between the DMN and CEN than boys with ASD, whereas typically developing girls and boys differed in SN functional connectivity only. Together, these results demonstrate that youth with ASD exhibit altered sex differences in these networks relative to what is observed in typical development, and highlight the importance of considering sex-related biological factors and participant sex when characterizing the neural mechanisms underlying ASD.
AB - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with the altered functional connectivity of 3 neurocognitive networks that are hypothesized to be central to the symptomatology of ASD: The salience network (SN), default mode network (DMN), and central executive network (CEN). Due to the considerably higher prevalence of ASD in males, however, previous studies examining these networks in ASD have used primarily male samples. It is thus unknown how these networks may be differentially impacted among females with ASD compared to males with ASD, and how such differences may compare to those observed in neurotypical individuals. Here, we investigated the functional connectivity of the SN, DMN, and CEN in a large, well-matched sample of girls and boys with and without ASD (169 youth, ages 8-17). Girls with ASD displayed greater functional connectivity between the DMN and CEN than boys with ASD, whereas typically developing girls and boys differed in SN functional connectivity only. Together, these results demonstrate that youth with ASD exhibit altered sex differences in these networks relative to what is observed in typical development, and highlight the importance of considering sex-related biological factors and participant sex when characterizing the neural mechanisms underlying ASD.
KW - Autism spectrum disorder
KW - Functional connectivity
KW - Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW - Sex differences
KW - Sexual differentiation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085928640&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85085928640&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhaa105
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhaa105
M3 - Article
C2 - 32350530
AN - SCOPUS:85085928640
VL - 30
SP - 5107
EP - 5120
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
SN - 1047-3211
IS - 9
ER -