Impairment of dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway in autistic men: language activation data from positron emission tomography
Neuroscience LettersPublished 1 March 1998
Ralph-Axel Müller, Diane C. Chugani, Michael E. Behen, Robert D. Rothermel, Otto Muzik, Pulak K. Chakraborty
Citations124
SJR quartileQ2
SJR score0.77
SNIP0.67
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Activation in the right dentate nucleus and in the left frontal area 46 was reduced during verbal auditory and expressive language and enhanced during motor speech functions in the autism as compared to the control group and the thalamus showed group differences concordant with area 46 for expressive language.
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests disturbances of serotonin synthesis affecting the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway in autistic boys. We studied possible effects of such disturbances on brain activations for language in autistic adults. Four autistic and five normal men were studied while listening to, repeating, and generating sentences, using [15(O)]-water positron emission tomography (PET). Activation in the right dentate nucleus and in the left frontal area 46 was reduced during verbal auditory and expressive language and enhanced during motor speech functions in the autism as compared to the control group. The thalamus showed group differences concordant with area 46 for expressive language. The results may indicate atypical functional specialization of the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway and are compatible with a model of region-specific biochemical disturbances in the developing autistic brain.
Keywords
MedicineNeuroscienceBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Journal of NeuroscienceHuman Brain Language Areas Identified by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
1,424 Citations1997Jeffrey R. Binder, Julie A. Frost +4 more
Although partly in conflict with the classical model of language localization, FMRI findings are generally compatible with reported lesion data and provide additional support for ongoing efforts to refine and extend the classicalmodel.
Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryAutism: Towards an Integration of Clinical, Genetic, Neuropsychological, and Neurobiological Perspectives
775 Citations1996Anthony Bailey, Wendy Phillips +1 more
A partial integration of the causal processes leading to autism requires an integration across different levels of enquiry, and provides a useful strategy for identifying key research questions, the limitations of existing hypotheses, and future research directions that are likely to prove fruitful.
Human Brain MappingFrom movement to thought: Anatomic substrates of the cerebellar contribution to cognitive processing
639 Citations1996Jeremy D. Schmahmann
These proposed rules and the general and specific hypotheses offered are testable using functional neuroimaging techniques and may thus be mutually advantageous in predicting and explaining new concepts of cerebellar function.
Molecular PsychiatryEvidence of linkage between the serotonin transporter and autistic disorder
427 Citations1997EH Cook, R Courchesne +7 more
Preliminary transmission/disequilibrium test analysis with 86 families revealed no evidence for linkage or linkage disequilibrium between autistic disorder and a polymorphism in the second intron of HTT, but preferential transmission of a short variant of the HTT promoter was found in the same 86 trios.
Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesOntogeny of the Serotonergic System in the Rat: Serotonin as a Developmental Signal<sup>a</sup>
402 Citations1990Jean M. Lauder
Evidence that 5-HT can influence both biochemical and morphological differentiation of raphe neurons and receptive target cells suggests that this neurotransmitter may have an organizing function in the developing nervous system which involves effects on neurite outgrowth and other aspects of neuronal differentiation, including synaptogenesis.
Annals of NeurologyAltered serotonin synthesis in the dentatothalamocortical pathway in autistic boys
402 Citations1997Diane C. Chugani, Otto Muzik +6 more
Serotonergic abnormalities in a brain pathway, important for language production and sensory integration, may represent one mechanism underlying the pathophysiology of autism.
NeuronTransient Uptake and Storage of Serotonin in Developing Thalamic Neurons
326 Citations1996Cécile Lebrand, Olivier Cases +6 more
It is shown that the dense transient 5-HT innervation of the somatosensory, visual, and auditory cortices originates in the thalamus rather than in the raphe, which means internalized 5- HT might be stored and used as a "borrowed transmitter" for extraneuronal signaling or could exert an intraneuronal control on thalamic maturation.
Archives of General PsychiatryEffects of Tryptophan Depletion in Drug-Free Adults With Autistic Disorder
298 Citations1996Christopher J. McDougle
The data suggest that the short-term reduction of serotonin precursor availability may exacerbate some symptoms characteristic of autism in some patients, and further investigation into the role of serotonin in the pathogenesis and treatment of autism is warranted.
Journal of Autism and Developmental DisordersBrain Mapping of Language and Auditory Perception in High-Functioning Autistic Adults: A PET Study
200 Citations1999Ralph‐Axel Müller, Michael E. Behen +5 more
The autism group showed a tendency towards atypical dominance for language in autism and a trend towards reduced activation of auditory cortex during acoustic stimulation; and reduced cerebellar activation during nonverbal auditory perception and possibly expressive language.
Journal of NeuroscienceEffect of serotonin depletion on vibrissa-related patterns of thalamic afferents in the rat's somatosensory cortex
164 Citations1994CA Bennett-Clarke, MJ Leslie +2 more
Results indicate that 5-HT plays a significant role in the development of the thalamic innervation of the primary somatosensory cortex.
Journal of Autism and Developmental DisordersDiagnosis and classification in autism
137 Citations1996Lynn Waterhouse, Robin D. Morris +6 more
There were significant behavior and IQ differences between autistic and other-PDD groups for all four diagnostic systems, and a significant association was found for Taxon B, diagnoses of autism, and the Aloof subgroup.
Human Brain MappingThe underestimated cerebellum
121 Citations1994Henrietta C. Leiner, Alan L. Leiner +1 more
It is suggested to brain‐mappers that new discoveries about these language and cognitive functions can be found by imaging those parts of the cerebro‐cerebellar system that evolved uniquely in the human brain, and where to look is indicated.
NeuroreportReceptive and expressive language activations for sentences
113 Citations1997Ralph-Axel Müller, Robert D. Rothermel +4 more
The strongest activation for sentence generation (minus repetition) was seen in the left middle and inferior frontal gyri (area 46), which appears to be anterior to activations reported for single-word generation, possibly due to greater verbal working memory demands of the sentential task.
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & MetabolismAnalysis of [ <sup>C-11</sup> ]Alpha-Methyl-Tryptophan Kinetics for the Estimation of Serotonin Synthesis Rate <i>In Vivo</i>
109 Citations1997Otto Muzik, Diane C. Chugani +3 more
The results indicate that the Patlak-plot method can be readily applied to [C-11]AMT data in order to create functional images of the K-complex, reflecting serotonin synthesis rate, within an acceptable error margin.