Study On Brain Connectivity Of Social Function And Its Mediating Model With Social Function And Adaptive Function In Men With Autism Spectrum Disorders Based On MRI

Objective: To explore the connections of brain regions that may affect social function in patients with ASD,discover their related structural covariant brain networks,and explore the relationship between related brain regions and social and adaptive functions.Methods: The image data used in this study were from the public large database ABIDE,and 58 patients with autism spectrum disorders(ASD)and 53 healthy controls(HC)were selected for the study.In study 1,a support vector machine combining a two-sample t-test and a 5-fold cross test was used to screen functional connections(FC)with high discrimination.Correlation analysis was performed between these FCs and the Social Response Scale(SRS),and significant correlations were obtained.In study 2,VBM analysis was performed on the whole brain gray matter volume of patients with autism spectrum disorders(ASD)and healthy controls(HC);Subsequently,construct and analyze the seed point to whole brain structural covariant networks of ASD and HC groups.In study 3,correlation analysis was conducted between FC(PVFC),Social Response Scale(SRS),and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale(VINELAND)obtained from study 1 and study 2;Regression analysis was used to further test the explanatory power of PVFC on the SRS scale and the VINELAND scale.Finally,the proposed intermediary model was tested.Results: In Study 1,245 consistent and highly discriminative FC were obtained,and the most discriminative FC with the highest proportion of brain regions were the default mode network and the cerebellum;In the ASD group,there were 5 FCs that had a significant negative correlation with the SRS score,all of which were the connections between the cerebellar vermis and the insular subfrontal gyrus,the left superior parietal gyrus,the right superior parietal gyrus,the right middle occipital gyrus,and the right inferior occipital gyrus.In study 2,in VBM analysis,a decrease in gray matter volume was found in the cerebellar vermis and parahippocampal gyrus of the HC and ASD groups,while a decrease in gray matter volume was detected in the left hemisphere,the left anterior cuneiform lobe,and the middle occipital gyrus.A decrease in gray matter volume was found in the right hemisphere,the posterior central gyrus,and the inferior temporal gyrus.In Crus II of the cerebellum,an increase in gray matter volume was found in the middle frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal rounded gyrus of the right hemisphere;In structural covariant network analysis,compared with HC group,ASD group showed a decrease in gray matter volume coherence between the cerebellar vermis and the left middle temporal gyrus and left superior parietal gyrus.In Study 3,the correlation analysis results showed that the three variables were correlated in pairs.PVFC was significantly negatively correlated with the scores of the SRS scale,and was significantly positively correlated with the scores of the VINELAND scale.SRS scale scores were significantly negatively correlated with the scores of the VINELAND scale.The mediating effect of SRS scale scores on PVFC and VINELAND scale scores is a complete mediating effect.Conclusion:(1)Compared to HC group,there are 5 high discrimination FCs in ASD group that are significantly related to the social function of patients,namely,the connections between the cerebellar vermis and the insular inferior frontal gyrus,the cerebellar vermis and the left superior parietal gyrus,the cerebellar vermis and the right superior parietal gyrus,the cerebellar vermis and the right middle occipital gyrus,and the cerebellar vermis and the right inferior occipital gyrus.(2)The cerebellar vermis and right superior parietal gyrus in the ASD group not only had functional damage on the functional image,but also had structural covariation damage on the structural image.(3)Social function plays a major mediating role between PVFC and adaptive function,that is,abnormal PVFC in ASD patients mainly affects their adaptive function by influencing their social function.