The mission of the ARC is to understand the biomedical causes of autism spectrum conditions, and develop new and validated methods
for assessment and intervention. The ARC fosters collaboration between scientists in Cambridge University and outside, to accelerate
this mission.
The ARC is proud to be the Cambridge partner in this three-centre study (London, Cambridge, and Oxford) investigating brain
anatomy in adults with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). This is the largest study of its kind to date. We studied 89 males
with ASC and 89 matched controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volumetric based morphometry (VBM). Individuals
with ASC had increased gray matter volume in the anterior temporal and dorsolateral prefrontal regions. They also had reduced
gray matter volume in the occipital and medial parietal regions, relative to controls. There was also evidence of atypical
neural connectivity in ASC. The study was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK.
The ARC collaborated on this important study identifying an early marker of later autism, with the British Autism Study
of Infant Siblings (BASIS) network, based in London
The ARC collaborated with the analysis of this large dataset from the Danish National Psychiatric Register, led by
colleagues at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
This new study took existing instruments that discriminate cases (with an autism spectrum diagnosis) and controls, and identified
the 10 best items on each of these questionnaires, to produce 'red flags' to alert a primary health professional that an individual
might warrant a full diagnostic assessment. 1000 cases and 3000 controls were measured using one of 4 instruments: The Autism
Spectrum Quotient (AQ) for adults, adolescents, or children; or the Q-CHAT (Quantitative Checklist for Toddlers). Results showed
that the ten-item versions (the AQ-10 (at all age groups) and the Q-CHAT-10) had excellent specificity and sensitivity.
This new study for the first time shows areas of the human brain where gray matter volume is influenced by fetal
testosterone (FT). Some areas that were larger in males than females showed a positive association with FT. That is, individuals
with the highest levels of FT had the largest volumes, while those with less FT had smaller volumes. This particular area, the
right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) has been functionally implicated in mentalizing/theory of mind processes and our other
recent study showed it is hypoactive in autism (Lombardo et al., 2011, Neuroimage).
MORE ...
Siblings of individuals with autism have over 20 times the population risk of autism. Evidence of comparable, but less marked,
cognitive and social communication deficits in siblings suggests a role for these traits in the search for biomarkers of
familial risk. However, no neuroimaging biomarkers of familial risk have been identified to date. Here we show, for the first
time, that the neural response to facial expression of emotion differs between unaffected siblings and healthy controls with
no family history of autism.
New research published today in the journal Molecular Autism has found that depending on which variations of the cannabinoid receptor (CNR1)
gene a person carries influences the amount of time people look at happy faces. The CNR1 gene is involved in the brain’s reward circuitry (and gets
its name because it codes for the molecule that cannabis attaches itself to) and expressed primarily in the regions of the brain involved in
reward processing.
PRESS RELEASE [PDF]