OBJECTIVE Impaired multisensory integration in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may arise from functional dysconnectivity among brain systems. Our study examines the functional connectivity integration between primary modal sensory regions and heteromodal processing cortex in ASD, and whether abnormalities in network integration relate to clinical severity. METHOD We studied a sample of 55 high-functioning ASD and 64 healthy control (HC) male children and adolescents (total n = 119, age range 7-18 years). Stepwise functional connectivity analysis (SFC) was applied to resting state functional magnetic resonance images (rsfMRI) to characterize the connectivity paths that link primary sensory cortices to higher-order brain cognitive functional circuits and to relate alterations in functional connectivity integration with three clinical scales: Social Communication Questionnaire, Social Responsiveness Scale, and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. RESULTS HC displayed typical functional connectivity transitions from primary sensory systems to association areas, but the ASD group showed altered patterns of multimodal sensory integration to heteromodal systems. Specifically, compared to the HC group, the ASD group showed the following: (1) hyperconnectivity in the visual cortex at initial link step distances; (2) hyperconnectivity between sensory unimodal regions and regions of the default mode network; and (3) hypoconnectivity between sensory unimodal regions and areas of the fronto-parietal and attentional networks. These patterns of hyper- and hypoconnectivity were associated with increased clinical severity in ASD. CONCLUSION Networkwise reorganization in high-functioning ASD individuals affects strategic regions of unimodal-to-heteromodal cortical integration predicting clinical severity. In addition, SFC analysis appears to be a promising approach for studying the neural pathophysiology of multisensory integration deficits in ASD.

中文翻译：

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感觉到认知系统的整合与自闭症谱系障碍的临床严重程度有关。

目的自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的多感觉整合受损可能是由于大脑系统之间的功能不连通造成的。我们的研究检查了ASD中主要模态感觉区域与异质处理皮质之间的功能连接整合，以及网络整合异常是否与临床严重性相关。方法我们研究了55名高功能ASD和64名健康对照（HC）男性和青少年的样本（总n = 119，年龄范围7-18岁）。逐步功能连接分析（SFC）被应用于静止状态功能磁共振图像（rsfMRI），以表征将主要感觉皮层与高阶大脑认知功能电路连接的连接路径，并将功能连接整合的变化与三个临床量表相关联：社会沟通问卷，社会反应量表和葡萄园适应行为量表。结果HC显示了从主要的感觉系统到关联区域的典型功能连接转换，但是ASD组显示了从多模式感觉整合到异模式系统的改变模式。具体而言，与HC组相比，ASD组显示以下内容：（1）视觉皮层在初始连接步距处的超连通性；（2）感官单峰区域与默认模式网络区域之间的超连通性；（3）感官单峰区域与额顶叶和注意网络区域之间的连通性不足。高连接性和连接性低下的这些模式与ASD的临床严重程度增加有关。结论高功能ASD患者的网络重组会影响单峰到异峰皮质整合的战略区域，从而预测临床严重程度。此外，SFC分析似乎是研究ASD中多感觉整合缺陷的神经病理生理学的一种有前途的方法。