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Sex-related brain connectivity correlates of compensation in adults with autism: insights into female protection.
- Source :
-
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) [Cereb Cortex] 2022 Dec 20; Vol. 33 (2), pp. 316-329. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- The male preponderance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) led to the hypothesis that aspects of female biology are protective against ASD. Females with ASD (ASD-F) report more compensatory behaviors (i.e. "camouflaging") to overcome ASD-related social differences, which may be a mechanism of protection. No studies have examined sex-related brain pathways supporting camouflaging in ASD-F, despite its potential to inform mechanisms underlying the ASD sex bias. We used functional connectivity (FC) to investigate "sex-atypical" and "sex-typical" FC patterns linked to camouflaging in adults with ASD and examined multimodal coherence of findings via structural connectometry. Exploratory associations with cognitive/emotional functioning examined the adaptive nature of FC patterns. We found (i) "sex-atypical" FC patterns linked to camouflaging in the hypothalamus and precuneus and (ii) "sex-typical" patterns in the right anterior cingulate and anterior parahippocampus. Higher hypothalamic FC with a limbic reward cluster also correlated with better cognitive control/emotion recognition. Structural connectometry validated FC results with consistent brain pathways/effect patterns implicated in ASD-F. In summary, "male-typical" and "female-typical" brain connectivity patterns support camouflaging in ASD-F in circuits implicated in reward, emotion, and memory retrieval. "Sex-atypical" results are consistent with fetal steroidogenic/neuroinflammatory hypotheses. However, female genetics/biology may contribute to "female-typical" patterns implicated in camouflaging.<br /> (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1460-2199
- Volume :
- 33
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 35212373
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhac069