Objectives: A number of neuroimaging studies indicate that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show dysfunctions and underconnectivities in social brain. Although the amygdala has a central role in social cognition, little is known about the involved networks and corresponding dysfunctions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the resting state functional connectivities (rs-FCs) with the amygdala in individuals with ASD compared to individuals with typical development (TD).
Methods: Resting-state functional MRI and seed based approach were used to investigate the rs-FCs of amygdala in twenty male individuals with ASD and twenty-five age- and IQ-matched healthy male with TD. In the preprocessing, resting-state data were corrected as proposed in a previous study (Weissenbacher et al., 2009). Individual voxel-wise functional connectivity maps were calculated using the right and left amygdala seed region.
Results: In the ASD group compared with the TD group, substantially smaller areas were functionally connected from the amygdala seed. Significant weaker rs-FCs from the right amygdala seed were observed in the cingulate gyrus, the paracentral lobule and postcentral gyrus in ASD group. However, we found that individuals with ASD demonstrated stronger rs-FCs from the left amygdala seed in the fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that differential strength of rs-FCs with amygdala exists in patients with ASD. This aberrant amygdala functions may explain ''amygdala hyperarousal model'', and may have effects on activity in other brain. We conclude that functional connectivities in the ASD brain during resting-state may reflect dysfunctional social brain including different patterns of functional connectivity in amygdala.