Neurobiology of infantile autism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i1.11495Keywords:
Neurobiology; Autistic disorder; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Autism spectrum disorder.Abstract
Objective: to discuss the neurobiological characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children. Methodology: a narrative review was conducted based on articles from the last 10 years (2010-2020) published on the databases PsycINFO, Medline, PubMed, SciELO, LILACS and Periódicos CAPES. The descriptors used are “Infantile Autism”, “Autism Disorder”, “Childhood”, “Vital Cycle”, “Child Neurodevelopment”, “Neurobiology”, “Neuroscience”, “Neuroanatomy”, “Autism Spectrum Disorder” and the Boolean “AND”. The material was entirely read, categorized, and subsequently, critically analyzed. Results and discussion: among ASD individuals there is a decrease in connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex; this decrease is related to a reduced social function when compared to healthy children. Similar alteration was found regarding the frontoparietal network which related to the repetitive behaviors observed in the disorder. There also is a hypothesis concerning cerebellar dysfunction and more specifically, that the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 (TSC 1) deletion – gene that encodes the hamartin protein – in the Purkinje cells reflects on the social and behavioral deficits among ASD individuals. Furthermore, it is suggested that the disorder phenotype is associated with a disturbance in the networks that connect the cerebellum to the medial prefrontal cortex also due to a higher activation in the last region. Conclusion: there still is no satisfactory and pathognomonic conclusion regarding the neurobiology of ASD in children. The most common neurofunctional alterations in ASD are related to cerebellar networks and Purkinje cells.
References
Assaf, M., Jagannathan, K., Calhoun, V. D., Miller, L., Stevens, M. C., Sahl, R., Pearlson, G. D. (2010). Abnormal functional connectivity of default mode sub-networks in autism spectrum disorder patients. NeuroImage, 53(1), 247-256. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.067
Brito, C. M., Vieira, G. O., Costa, M. D., & Oliveira, N. F. (2011). Desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor: O teste de Denver na triagem dos atrasos cognitivos e neuromotores de pré-escolares. Cadernos De Saúde Pública, 27(7), 1403-1414. doi:10.1590/s0102-311x2011000700015
Bruchhage, M. M., Bucci, M., & Becker, E. B. (2018). Cerebellar involvement in autism and ADHD. The Cerebellum: Disorders and Treatment Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 61-72. doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64189-2.00004-4
Chazan, L. F., Fortes, S. L. C. L., & Camargo Junior, K. R. D. (2020). Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental: revisão narrativa do uso dos conceitos horizontalidade e supervisão e suas implicações nas práticas. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 25, 3251-3260. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232020258.31942018
Crespi, B. J. (2010). Revisiting Bleuler: Relationship between autism and schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 196(6), 495-495. doi:10.1192/bjp.196.6.495
Custódio, Z. A., Crepaldi, M. A., & Cruz, R. M. (2012). Desenvolvimento de crianças nascidas pré-termo avaliado pelo teste de Denver-II: Revisão da produção científica brasileira. Psicologia: Reflexão E Crítica, 25(2), 400-406. doi:10.1590/s0102-79722012000200022
Depolito, S. C. P., Moraes, L. L., Siqueira, W. G., Sales Baquião, L. M., Januário, G. C., & Morceli, G. (2020). Atuação da equipe de enfermagem frente ao desmame precoce: Uma revisão narrativa. Saúde Coletiva (Barueri), 10(55), 2915-2924. https://doi.org/10.36489/saudecoletiva.2020v10i55p2915-2924
D'mello, A. M., & Stoodley, C. J. (2015). Cerebro-cerebellar circuits in autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9. doi:10.3389/fnins.2015.00408
Fatemi, S. H., Aldinger, K. A., Ashwood, P., Bauman, M. L., Blaha, C. D., Blatt, G. J., Welsh, J. P. (2012). Consensus Paper: Pathological Role of the Cerebellum in Autism. The Cerebellum, 11(3), 777-807. doi:10.1007/s12311-012-0355-9
Floris, D. L., & Howells, H. (2018). Atypical structural and functional motor networks in autism. Progress in Brain Research Cerebral Lateralization and Cognition: Evolutionary and Developmental Investigations of Behavioral Biases, 207-248. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.06.010
Floris, D. L., Barber, A. D., Nebel, M. B., Martinelli, M., Lai, M., Crocetti, D., Mostofsky, S. H. (2016). Atypical lateralization of motor circuit functional connectivity in children with autism is associated with motor deficits. Molecular Autism, 7(1). doi:10.1186/s13229-016-0096-6
Güntürkün, O., Ströckens, F., & Ocklenburg, S. (2020). Brain Lateralization: A Comparative Perspective. Physiological Reviews, 100(3), 1019-1063. doi:10.1152/physrev.00006.2019
Hampson, D. R., & Blatt, G. J. (2015). Autism spectrum disorders and neuropathology of the cerebellum. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9. doi:10.3389/fnins.2015.00420
Harris, J. (2018). Leo Kanner and autism: A 75-year perspective. International Review of Psychiatry, 30(1), 3-17. doi:10.1080/09540261.2018.1455646
He, C., Chen, Y., Jian, T., Chen, H., Guo, X., Wang, J., Duan, X. (2018). Dynamic functional connectivity analysis reveals decreased variability of the default-mode network in developing autistic brain. Autism Research, 11(11), 1479-1493. doi:10.1002/aur.2020
Kelly, E., Meng, F., Fujita, H., Morgado, F., Kazemi, Y., Rice, L. C., Tsai, P. T. (2020). Regulation of autism-relevant behaviors by cerebellar–prefrontal cortical circuits. Nature Neuroscience, 23(9), 1102-1110. doi:10.1038/s41593-020-0665-z
Mak, L. E., Minuzzi, L., Macqueen, G., Hall, G., Kennedy, S. H., & Milev, R. (2017). The Default Mode Network in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Brain Connectivity, 7(1), 25-33. doi:10.1089/brain.2016.0438
Moraes, M. W., Weber, A. P., Marcela De Castro E Oliveira Santos, & Almeida, F. D. (2010). Denver II: Evaluation of the development of children treated in the outpatient clinic of Project Einstein in the Community of Paraisópolis. Einstein (São Paulo), 8(2), 149-153. doi:10.1590/s1679-45082010ao1620
Raichle, M. E. (2015). The Brain's Default Mode Network. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38(1), 433-447. doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014030
Rother, E. T. (2007). Revisão sistemática X revisão narrativa. Acta Paulista De Enfermagem, 20(2), V-Vi. doi:10.1590/s0103-21002007000200001
Vogan, V. M., Morgan, B. R., Leung, R. C., Anagnostou, E., Doyle-Thomas, K., & Taylor, M. J. (2016). Widespread White Matter Differences in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(6), 2138-2147. doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2744-2
Volkmar, F. R., & Mcpartland, J. C. (2014). From Kanner to DSM-5: Autism as an Evolving Diagnostic Concept. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10(1), 193-212. doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153710
Yang, Q., Huang, P., Li, C., Fang, P., Zhao, N., Nan, J., Cui, L. (2018). Mapping alterations of gray matter volume and white matter integrity in children with autism spectrum disorder. NeuroReport, 29(14), 1188-1192. doi:10.1097/wnr.0000000000001094
Yerys, B. E., Gordon, E. M., Abrams, D. N., Satterthwaite, T. D., Weinblatt, R., Jankowski, K. F., Vaidya, C. J. (2015). Default mode network segregation and social deficits in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from non-medicated children. NeuroImage: Clinical, 9, 223-232. doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2015.07.018
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Cecília Rezende de Almeida Oliveira; José Carlos Souza
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
