Abstract

The cerebellum is implicated in social cognition and is likely to be involved in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of our study was to explore cerebellar morphology in adults with ASD and its relationship to eye contact, as measured by fixation time allocated on the eye region using an eye-tracking device. Two-hundred ninety-four subjects with ASD and controls were included in our study and underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. Global segmentation and cortical parcellation of the cerebellum were performed. A sub-sample of 59 subjects underwent an eye tracking protocol in order to measure the fixation time allocated to the eye region. We did not observe any difference in global cerebellar volumes between ASD patients and controls; however, regional analyses found a decrease of the volume of the right anterior cerebellum in subjects with ASD compared to controls. There were significant correlations between fixation time on eyes and the volumes of the vermis and Crus I. Our results suggest that cerebellar morphology may be related to eye avoidance and reduced social attention. Eye tracking may be a promising neuro-anatomically based stratifying biomarker of ASD.

Details

Title
Cerebellar anatomical alterations and attention to eyes in autism
Author
Laidi, Charles 1 ; Boisgontier, Jennifer 2 ; M Mallar Chakravarty 3 ; Hotier, Sevan 1 ; Marc-Antoine d’Albis 1 ; Jean-François Mangin 4 ; Devenyi, Gabriel A 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Delorme, Richard 5 ; Bolognani, Federico 6 ; Czech, Christian 6 ; Bouquet, Céline 6 ; Toledano, Elie 7 ; Bouvard, Manuel 8 ; Gras, Doriane 9   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Petit, Julie 10 ; Mishchenko, Marina 11 ; Gaman, Alexandru 12 ; Scheid, Isabelle 13 ; Leboyer, Marion 14 ; Zalla, Tiziana 15 ; Houenou, Josselin 16 

1  UNIACT, Psychiatry Team, Neurospin Neuroimaging platform, CEA Saclay, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France; INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Créteil, France 
2  UNIACT, Psychiatry Team, Neurospin Neuroimaging platform, CEA Saclay, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France; INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France 
3  Cerebral Imaging Center, Douglas Mental Health University, McGill University, Montréal, Canada; Departments of Psychiatry and Biological and Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada 
4  UNATI, Neurospin, CEA, Paris Saclay University, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France 
5  Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Service de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, France; Institut Pasteur, Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit, Paris, France 
6  Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, and Rare Diseases (NORD), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Roche Innovation Center Basel, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland 
7  Institut Roche, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Boulogne-Billancourt, France 
8  Charles Perrens Hospital, Autism Expert Center, Bordeaux, France 
9  Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle UMR 7110, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France 
10  Service de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, France 
11  Institut Jean Nicod (UMR 8129), CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France 
12  INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Créteil, France 
13  INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Créteil, France; Service de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, France 
14  INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Créteil, France; Faculté de Médecine, Universite Paris Est, Créteil, France 
15  Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Institut Jean Nicod (UMR 8129), CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France 
16  UNIACT, Psychiatry Team, Neurospin Neuroimaging platform, CEA Saclay, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France; INSERM Unit U955, Team 15 “Translational Psychiatry”, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Créteil, France; Cerebral Imaging Center, Douglas Mental Health University, McGill University, Montréal, Canada 
Pages
1-11
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Sep 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11883-w
ProQuest document ID
1954981122
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.