BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate potential differences in neural structure in individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS), high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The main symptoms of AS are severe impairments in social interactions and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests or activities. METHODS Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired for 14 adult males with AS and 19 age, sex and IQ-matched controls. Voxelwise group differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) were studied with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Based on the results of TBSS, a tract-level comparison was performed with constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD)-based tractography, which is able to detect complex (for example, crossing) fiber configurations. In addition, to investigate the relationship between the microstructural changes and the severity of symptoms, we looked for correlations between FA and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient. RESULTS TBSS revealed widely distributed local increases in FA bilaterally in individuals with AS, most prominent in the temporal part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, corticospinal tract, splenium of corpus callosum, anterior thalamic radiation, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), posterior thalamic radiation, uncinate fasciculus and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). CSD-based tractography also showed increases in the FA in multiple tracts. However, only the difference in the left ILF was significant after a Bonferroni correction. These results were not explained by the complexity of microstructural organization, measured using the planar diffusion coefficient. In addition, we found a correlation between AQ and FA in the right IFO in the whole group. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that there are local and tract-level abnormalities in white matter (WM) microstructure in our homogenous and carefully characterized group of adults with AS, most prominent in the left ILF.

中文翻译：

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受限的基于球面反褶积的tractography和基于tract的空间统计数据显示了Asperger综合征的异常微结构组织。

背景技术这项研究的目的是调查患有高水平自闭症谱系障碍症（ASD）的阿斯伯格综合症（AS）患者的神经结构的潜在差异。AS的主要症状是严重的社交互动障碍以及行为，兴趣或活动的受限或重复模式。方法获得了14名AS男性和19名年龄，性别和智商匹配的对照的扩散加权磁共振成像数据。使用基于区域的空间统计数据（TBSS）研究了分数各向异性（FA）的Voxelwise组差异。基于TBSS的结果，使用基于约束球面反褶积（CSD）的体层摄影术进行了束级比较，该束能够检测复杂的（例如，交叉）光纤配置。此外，为了研究微观结构变化与症状严重程度之间的关系，我们寻找了FA与自闭症频谱商（AQ），移情商和系统化商之间的相关性。结果TBSS揭示AS患者双侧FA广泛分布于局部，在上纵筋膜，皮质脊髓束，call体脾，前丘脑放射，前额枕筋膜（IFO），丘脑后部辐射，束状筋膜和下纵筋膜（ILF）。基于CSD的体检也显示多发性FA的增加。但是，在Bonferroni校正后，仅左ILF的差异显着。用平面扩散系数测得的微观结构组织的复杂性并不能解释这些结果。此外，我们在整个小组的正确IFO中发现了AQ和FA之间的相关性。结论我们的结果表明，在我们均一且特征明确的成年AS患者中，白质（WM）微结构存在局部和道水平异常，最常见于左ILF。