Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that is accompanied by neurodevelopmental differences in regional cortical volume (CV), and a potential layer‐specific pathology. Conventional measures of CV, however, do not indicate how volume is distributed across cortical layers. In a sample of 92 typically developing (TD) controls and 92 adult individuals with ASD (aged 18–52 years), we examined volumetric gradients by quantifying the degree to which CV is weighted from the pial to the white surface of the brain. Overall, the spatial distribution of Frustum Surface Ratio (FSR) followed the gyral and sulcal pattern of the cortex and approximated a bimodal Gaussian distribution caused by a linear mixture of vertices on gyri and sulci. Measures of FSR were highly correlated with vertex‐wise estimates of mean curvature, sulcal depth, and pial surface area, although none of these features explained more than 76% variability in FSR on their own. Moreover, in ASD, we observed a pattern of predominant increases in the degree of FSR relative to TD controls, with an atypical neurodevelopmental trajectory. Our findings suggest a more outward‐weighted gradient of CV in ASD, which may indicate a larger contribution of supragranular layers to regional differences in CV.

中文翻译：

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基于自闭症谱系障碍大脑中截锥体表面比率检查体积梯度

自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 是一种复杂的神经发育障碍，伴有区域皮质体积 (CV) 的神经发育差异和潜在的层特异性病理。然而，传统的 CV 测量并不能表明体积在皮质层之间的分布情况。在 92 名典型发育 (TD) 对照和 92 名患有 ASD 的成年个体（年龄 18-52 岁）的样本中，我们通过量化 CV 从软脑膜到大脑白色表面的加权程度来检查体积梯度。总体而言，Frustum Surface Ratio (FSR) 的空间分布遵循皮质的回旋和脑沟模式，并近似于由脑回和脑沟上的顶点线性混合引起的双峰高斯分布。FSR 的测量与平均曲率的顶点估计高度相关，沟深度和软脑膜表面积，尽管这些特征都不能单独解释超过 76% 的 FSR 变异性。此外，在 ASD 中，我们观察到 FSR 程度相对于 TD 对照显着增加的模式，具有非典型的神经发育轨迹。我们的研究结果表明 ASD 中 CV 的权重梯度更大，这可能表明超颗粒层对 CV 的区域差异的贡献更大。