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Corpus Callosum Morphometrics in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study assessed midsagittal corpus callosum cross sectional areas in 3–4 year olds with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to typically developing (TD) and developmentally delayed (DD) children. Though not different in absolute size compared to TD, ASD callosums were disproportionately small adjusted for increased ASD cerebral volume. ASD clinical subgroup analysis revealed greater proportional callosum reduction in the more severely affected autistic disorder (AD) than in pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) children. DD children had smaller absolute callosums than ASD and TD. Subregion analysis revealed widely distributed callosum differences between ASD and TD children. Results could reflect decreased inter-hemispheric connectivity or cerebral enlargement due to increase in tissues less represented in the corpus callosum in ASD.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by a program project grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2PO1 HD34565).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, 5C-1, Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Inbal Boger-Megiddo & Dennis W. W. Shaw

  2. Cancer Epidemiology Research Coop, Public Health Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA

    Inbal Boger-Megiddo

  3. Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle , WA, USA

    Dennis W. W. Shaw, Seth D. Friedman, Bobbi F. Sparks & Stephen R. Dager

  4. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle , WA, USA

    Alan A. Artru

  5. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jay N. Giedd

  6. Department of Psychology, Center on Human Development & Disability, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Geraldine Dawson

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  1. Inbal Boger-Megiddo
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  2. Dennis W. W. Shaw
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  3. Seth D. Friedman
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  4. Bobbi F. Sparks
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  5. Alan A. Artru
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  6. Jay N. Giedd
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  7. Geraldine Dawson
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  8. Stephen R. Dager
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Correspondence to Dennis W. W. Shaw.

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Boger-Megiddo, I., Shaw, D.W.W., Friedman, S.D. et al. Corpus Callosum Morphometrics in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder . J Autism Dev Disord 36, 733–739 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0121-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0121-2

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