Medial Frontal Lobe Neurochemistry in Autism Spectrum Disorder is Marked by Reduced N-Acetylaspartate and Unchanged Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid and Glutamate + Glutamine Levels
Published in
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, November 2017
The nature of neurochemical changes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains controversial. We compared medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurochemistry of twenty high-functioning children and adolescents with ASD without associated comorbidities and fourteen controls. We observed reduced total N-acetylaspartate (tNAA) and total creatine, increased Glx/tNAA but unchanged glutamate + glutamine (Glx) and unchanged absolute or relative gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA+) in the ASD group. Importantly, both smaller absolute and relative GABA+ levels were associated with worse communication skills and developmental delay scores assessed by the autism diagnostic interview-revised (ADI-R). We conclude that tNAA is reduced in the mPFC in ASD and that glutamatergic metabolism may be altered due to unbalanced Glx/tNAA. Moreover, GABA+ is related to autistic symptoms assessed by the ADI-R.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 November 2017.
All research outputs
#21,376,200
of 23,867,274 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
#4,711
of 5,240 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#380,295
of 444,495 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
#109
of 124 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,867,274 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,240 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.2. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 444,495 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 124 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
