PURPOSE Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is related to impairment in various white matter (WM) pathways. Utility of the recently developed two-compartment model of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) to analyse axial diffusivity of WM is restricted by several limitations. The present study aims to validate the utility of model-free DKI in the evaluation of WM alterations in ASD and analyse the potential relationship between DKI-evident WM alterations and personality scales. METHODS Overall, 15 participants with ASD and 15 neurotypical (NT) controls were scanned on a 3 T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner, and scores for autism quotient (AQ), systemising quotient (SQ) and empathising quotient (EQ) were obtained for both groups. Multishell diffusion-weighted MR data were acquired using two b-values (1000 and 2000 s/mm2). Differences in mean kurtosis (MK), radial kurtosis (RK) and axial kurtosis (AK) between the groups were evaluated using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Finally, the relationships between the kurtosis indices and personality quotients were examined. RESULTS The ASD group demonstrated significantly lower AK in the body and splenium of corpus callosum than the NT group; however, no other significant differences were identified. Negative correlations were found between AK and AQ or SQ, predominantly in WM areas related to social-emotional processing such as uncinate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi. CONCLUSIONS Model-free DKI and its indices may represent a novel, objective method for detecting the disease severity and WM alterations in patients with ASD.

中文翻译：

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成人弥漫性峰度成像评估自闭症谱系障碍患者的白质变化。

目的自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）与各种白质（WM）途径的损伤有关。最近开发的两室扩散峰度成像（DKI）模型用于分析WM的轴向扩散率的实用程序受到一些限制。本研究旨在验证无模型DKI在ASD中WM改变评估中的实用性，并分析DKI明显WM改变与人格量表之间的潜在关系。方法总体上，在3T磁共振（MR）扫描仪上扫描了15名具有ASD的参与者和15名神经典型（NT）对照，并获得了自闭症（AQ），系统化商（SQ）和移情商（EQ）的得分两组。使用两个b值（1000和2000 s / mm2）获取多壳扩散加权MR数据。平均峰度（MK）的差异，使用基于区域的空间统计数据（TBSS）对两组之间的径向峰度（RK）和轴向峰度（AK）进行了评估。最后，检验了峰度指数与人格商数之间的关系。结果ASD组的call体和脾脏中的AK明显低于NT组。但是，没有发现其他显着差异。在AK与AQ或SQ之间发现负相关，主要在与社会情感处理有关的WM区域中，例如未融合的筋膜，额枕下筋膜，以及纵向上和下筋膜。结论无模型DKI及其指数可能代表了一种新颖，客观的方法来检测ASD患者的疾病严重程度和WM改变。