Author(s): Tavares, Vânia ; Fernandes, Luís Afonso ; Antunes, Marilia ; Ferreira, Hugo ; Prata, Diana
Date: 2021
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49630
Origin: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Subject(s): Autism spectrum disorder; Functional connectivity; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Independent component analysis; Resting-state networks
Functional brain connectivity (FBC) has previously been examined in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) between-resting-state networks (RSNs) using a highly sensitive and reproducible hypothesis-free approach. However, results have been inconsistent and sex differences have only recently been taken into consideration using this approach. We estimated main effects of diagnosis and sex and a diagnosis by sex interaction on between-RSNs FBC in 83 ASD (40 females/43 males) and 85 typically developing controls (TC; 43 females/42 males). We found increased connectivity between the default mode (DM) and (a) the executive control networks in ASD (vs. TC); (b) the cerebellum networks in males (vs. females); and (c) female-specific altered connectivity involving visual, language and basal ganglia (BG) networks in ASD-in suggestive compatibility with ASD cognitive and neuroscientific theories.
