Excess of High Frequency Electroencephalogram Oscillations in Boys with Autism

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.12.029

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 62, Issue 9, 1 November 2007, Pages 1022-1029

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.12.029 Get rights and content

Background

An elevated excitation/inhibition ratio has been suggested as one mechanism underpinning autism. An imbalance between cortical excitation and inhibition may manifest itself in electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in the high frequency range. The aim of this study was to investigate whether beta and gamma range EEG abnormalities are characteristic for young boys with autism (BWA).

Methods

EEG was recorded during sustained visual attention in two independent samples of BWA from Moscow and Gothenburg, aged 3 to 8 years, and in age matched typically developing boys (TDB). High frequency EEG spectral power was analyzed.

Results

In both samples, BWA demonstrated a pathological increase of gamma (24.4–44.0 Hz) activity at the electrode locations distant from the sources of myogenic artefacts. In both samples, the amount of gamma activity correlated positively with degree of developmental delay in BWA.

Conclusions

The excess of high frequency oscillations may reflect imbalance in the excitation–inhibition homeostasis in the cortex. Given the important role of high frequency EEG rhythms for perceptual and cognitive processes, early and probably genetically determined abnormalities in the neuronal mechanisms generating high frequency EEG rhythms may contribute to development of the disorder. Further studies are needed to investigate the specificity of the findings for autism.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were forty boys aged 3–8 years from Moscow (n = 20) and Gothenburg, (n = 20), diagnosed with autism (n = 38) or autism spectrum disorders (n = 2), and the same number of age-matched typically developing boys (TDB). The clinical groups will be addressed as ‘boys with autism’ (BWA). Information on experimental groups is summarized in Table 1.

The participants had no neurological disorders of known etiology (fragile-X, epilepsy, etc.). In the Gothenburg sample the diagnosis was based

Results

The original EEG power spectra for all experimental groups are presented in Supplement 1. Figure 1 represents scalp distribution of the group mean log10 SP in beta, gamma1 and gamma2 bands in BWA and TDB and scalp topography of significant difference between the groups. As expected, power maxima of fast oscillations were observed at prefrontal, temporal or occipital regions, apparently due to a high contribution of myogenic artefacts at these electrode locations. The lowest beta and gamma SP

Discussion

The main findings of this study are 1) a pathological enhancement of spontaneous high frequency EEG oscillations in BWA, and 2) the relation of this enhancement to the degree of developmental disturbance. Both of these findings were reproduced for the two independent samples of subjects.

The difference in amount of fast frequency rhythms between BWA and TDB is unlikely to be explained by myogenic artefacts, because the majority of significant between-group differences were observed at electrode

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Original ArticleExcess of High Frequency Electroencephalogram Oscillations in Boys with Autism

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Participants

Results

Discussion

Int J Psychophysiol

Trends Cogn Sci

Epilepsy Behav

Neuropsychologia

Trends Cogn Sci

Biol Psychiatry

Brain Res Rev

Epilepsy Behav

Brain Res Bull

Clin Neurophysiol

Clin Neurophysiol

Trends Cogn Sci

Am J Hum Genet

Brain Res

Brain Dev

Int J Psychophysiol

Int J Psychophysiol

Sleep electroencephalograms in young children with autism with and without regression

Dev Med Child Neurol

EEG-brain dynamics relation between EEG and brain evoked potentials

[The clinical, neurophysiological and differential diagnostic aspects in a study of severe forms of early childhood autism]

Zh Nevropatol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova

Disruption in the inhibitory architecture of the cell minicolumn: implications for autisim

Neuroscientist

Minicolumnar pathology in autism

Neurology

Subgroups of autistic children based on social behavior display distinct patterns of brain activity

J Abnorm Child Psychol

A comparison of certain gamma band 40 Hz brain rhythms in cat and man

Autism and Asperger syndrome: coexistence with other clinical disorders

Acta Psychiatr Scand

Disordered visual processing and oscillatory brain activity in autism and Williams Syndrome

Neuroreport

Original Article
Excess of High Frequency Electroencephalogram Oscillations in Boys with Autism