Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

Atypical Cortical Resting States in Adolescent Females and Males with ASD

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Stacy Moppert¹ (stacymop@buffalo.edu), Eduardo Mercado¹; ¹University at Buffalo

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prominent neurodevelopmental disorder. Its causes remain elusive due to its heterogenous nature. To better understand the neural mechanisms contributing to ASD, resting-state functional magnetic resonance images (rs-fMRI) from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) network were examined from children ages 7-12 years old. Images from 32 females, (16 ASD; 16 TD) and 32 males (16 ASD; 16 males) were analyzed to assess variations in intrinsic functional connectivity. We used voxel-wise measures to examine within- and between-group differences in connectivity in both males and females with ASD. All children with ASD were observed to have atypical connectivity in the frontal lobes, occipital, and temporal lobes. Additionally, in females intrinsic functional connectivity was increased in the precuneous cortex and right frontal orbital cortex. In contrast, males showed increased connectivity in the thalamus, left occipital cortex, and intracalcarine cortex. The overall findings suggest that female and male children with ASD have overlapping but distinctive brain differences from other children. This result is consistent with prior findings indicating that, in general, brain alterations associated with ASD are similar in males and females.

Topic Area: OTHER