Amygdala and hippocampal contributions to broad autism phenotype: Project Ice Storm
PMC13039455
· 10.1038/s41398-026-03918-6
Gap Declaration
A second strength of this study is our examination of the three core broad autism phenotypes separately: aloof personality, pragmatic language deficits and rigid personality. A third strength is the investigation of specific amygdala nuclei (i.e., BLA and CMA) and hippocampal subfields (i.e., CA1, CA3, CA4 and DG), recognizing that the amygdala and hippocampus are composed of heterogenous structures that may be differentially associated with specific broad autism phenotypes. Although the BAP assessment and the functional MRI scanning occurred concurrently at age 19, the neural correlates observed in this non-clinical sample are potential biomarker candidates that require further development in future research. Further, since the children at ages 16 and 19 self-reported their BAP phenotypes and underwent structural and diffusion MRI scanning, this design enables us to examine longitudinal changes in relationships between three BAP subdomains and amygdala and hippocampal volume and structural connectivity from age 16 to age 19. In conclusion, our results suggest that hippocampus-motor connectivity, which is responsible for emotion, memory and motor processing, possibly contributes to pragmatic language as seen in young adults.
Abstract
Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) increases the risk for autism, and individuals with autism inconsistently exhibit increased or decreased volumes and functional connectivity of the whole amygdala and the whole hippocampus. Given heterogeneous structures of the amygdala and hippocampus and the heterogeneity of autism symptoms, it is worth examining how their subregions contribute to different autism phenotypes. T1-weighted and resting-state functional MRI data were acquired from 32 young adults of mothers who were pregnant during, or within 3 months of, the 1998 Quebec ice storm. Their broad autism phenotype (BAP) was self-reported, including aloof personality, pragmatic language impairment and rigid personality. This sample has a wide range of scores on the BAP Questionnaire. Volumes of the…
Conclusions / Discussion
Discussion This study examined associations between the severity of BAP traits and the volumes and functional connectivity of amygdala nuclei and hippocampal subfields in young adults. All participants in this sample were born following a natural disaster and, while a nonclinical sample, there was considerable variance in the severity of BAP traits which allowed us to uncover correlational associations with amygdala and hippocampal structure and function. Our results demonstrate that it is critical to study the different subdomains of BAP traits separately since we found different patterns in their associations with amygdala and hippocampal volumes and functional connectivity, discussed as below. First, we found no correlations between the overall BAP severity and the volumes and functional connectivity of the amygdala and hippocampal subregions. The lack of association with BLA volume and connectivity echoes previous studies reporting no link between the severity of autism total score and BLA functional connectivity, whereas the severity of one specific subdomain of autism symptoms (e.g., social deficits) was associated with BLA volume and functional connectivity in autistic indiv…
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Structural Hole
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Technique originates in psychology; functional analogues in criminal justice, epidemiology literature are absent.
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