Reduced number of brain synapses seen in adults with ASD

A study by researchers in the United States indicates that autistic adults have fewer brain synapses than neurotypical adults, and that this reduction correlates with social and communication problems.

David Matuskey and colleagues used positon emission tomography (PET) to measure the connections between brain cells in 12 autistic and 20 neurotypical adults. The researchers found that “all brain regions associated with autism” had lower synaptic density in autistic participants. “Synaptic density also correlated with clinical features,” they say, “such that a greater number of autistic features were associated with lower synaptic density.”

The researchers conclude, “These results indicate that brain-wide synaptic density may represent an as-yet-undiscovered molecular basis for the clinical phenotype of autism and associated pervasive alterations across a diversity of neural processes.”

Citations

“11C-UCB-J PET imaging is consistent with lower synaptic density in autistic adults,” David Matuskey, Yanghong Yang, Mika Naganawa, Sheida Koohsari, Takuya Toyonaga, Paul Gravel, Brian Pittman, Kristen Torres, Lauren Pisani, Caroline Finn, Sophie Cramer-Benjamin, Nicole Herman, Lindsey H. Rosenthal, Cassandra J. Franke, Bridget M. Walicki, Irina Esterlis, Patrick Skosnik, Rajiv Radhakrishnan, Julie M. Wolf, Nabeel Nabulsi, Jim Ropchan, Yiyun Huang, Richard E. Carson, Adam J. Naples, and James C. McPartland, Molecular Psychiatry, October 4, 2024 (online). Address: James C. McPartland, [email protected].

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“Imaging links fewer brain connections to autism social challenges,” Neuroscience News, October 14, 2024.