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Home Browse Search My Settings Alerts Help *Quick Search* All fields Author Search tips (Opens new window) Journal/book title Volume Issue Page Clear all fields Advanced Search *Clinical Neuroscience Research* Volume 6, Issues 3-4 , October 2006, Pages 127-133 Recent Advances in Autism and Related Disorders, 85th Annual Conference of the ARNMD Font Size: Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Abstract Abstract - selected Figures/Tables Figures/Tables - selected Article Toolbox E-mail Article Cited By Save as Citation Alert Set up a citation RSS feed (Opens new window) Citation Feed Export Citation Add to my Quick Links Bookmark and share in 2collab (opens in new window) Request permission to reuse this article Cited By in Scopus (8) Relevant Terms extracted from this Article See Data Correlations, Clinical Trials and more on: genes | 1 BDNF diseases | 6 Autism Pervasive developmen… behavioral syndrome Developmental Disord… mental disorder traumatic injuries View more... View less... compounds | 2 formalin soma tissues | 21 neocortex prefrontal cortex anterior cingulate g… Brain cortex frontal lobe cerebral cortex orbitofrontal cortex white matter amygdaloid complex Brodmann areas cerebral hemisphere cingulate area corpus callosum frontopolar area glia interneurons neural networks primary motor cortex primary visual corte… substantia innominat… View more... View less... Scientific correlations by NextBio *Related Articles in ScienceDirect* Pharmacotherapy in autism: Where to start? /Drug Discovery Today/ Close You are entitled to access the full text of this document *Pharmacotherapy in autism: Where to start? * /Drug Discovery Today/, /Volume 9, Issue 11/, /June 2004/, /Page 474/ Maria T. 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PDF (236 K) View More Related Articles Find at UT PANGAEA Supplementary Data View Record in Scopus doi:10.1016/j.cnr.2006.06.003 How to Cite or Link Using DOI (Opens New Window) Copyright © 2006 Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease Published by Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease Abnormalities of cortical minicolumnar organization in the prefrontal lobes of autistic patients^star, open <#afn1> Alert This article is not included in your organization's subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organization's agreement with Elsevier. * M.F. Casanova^a <#aff1>^, ^Corresponding Author Contact Information <#cor1>^, ^E-mail The Corresponding Author , I. van Kooten^b <#aff2>^, ^c <#aff3>^, ^d <#aff4>, A.E. Switala^a <#aff1>, H. van Engeland^b <#aff2>, H. Heinsen^e <#aff5>, H.W.M. Steinbusch^c <#aff3>^, ^d <#aff4>, P.R. Hof^f <#aff6> and C. Schmitz^c <#aff3>^, ^d <#aff4> * ^a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA ^b Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands ^c Department of Cellular Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands ^d European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, The Netherlands ^e Morphological Brain Research Unit, University of Wuerzburg, Germany ^f Department of Neuroscience, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA Available online 1 September 2006. Abstract Recent functional imaging studies suggest deficits in connectivity between disparate and distant regions in the brains of autistic individuals. One possible explanation to these findings is the presence of modular abnormalities in the neocortex of autistic patients: a change in neuronal specialization within minicolumns that emphasizes short connecting fibers. In this study, we expand on previous findings by exploring the topography of minicolumnar abnormalities in autism. Our postmortem study included six patients with autism (DSM-IV-TR and ADI-R diagnosed) and six age-matched controls. Entire brain hemispheres were celloidin embedded, serially sectioned, and stained with gallocyanin. Digital photomicrographs of /n/ = 9 cortical areas (including paralimbic, heteromodal association, unimodal association, and primary areas) obtained at high magnification were assembled into montages covering the entire cortical thickness. Stained cell somata were segmented from neuropil by thresholding. Computer image analysis clustered neurons into minicolumnar fragments. The full width of the image region nearest each fragment and the width of the cell-dense core of the fragment were estimated. The difference between these two quantities can be used as a measure of the peripheral neuropil space of minicolumns. We found an interaction of diagnosis and region for peripheral neuropil space (/p/ = 0.041). Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences (/p/ < 0.05) for the frontopolar region (area 10) and the anterior cingulate gyrus (area 24). The frontopolar cortex is involved in executive functions by implementing control over internally generated thoughts and relational integration (combination of multiple cognitive rules). The anterior cingulate gyrus is involved in the analysis of socially salient information, including the processing of familiar faces. Pathological findings in these areas may provide a correlate to some of the more salient manifestations of autism. *Keywords: *Minicolumns; Autism; Pervasive developmental disorders of childhood (PDD); Neocortex; Neuropathology; Prefrontal cortex Article Outline 1. Introduction 2. Methods 2.1. Brain specimens 2.2. Tissue processing 2.3. Brain regions 2.4. Image capture 2.5. Computerized image analysis system 3. Results 4. Discussion Acknowledgements References Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the cases included in this study View table in article BW, brain weight (grams); PMI, postmortem interval (hours); A, autism; C, control; M, male; F, female; L, left; R, right; Y, years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 2. Mean peripheral neuropil space, per cortical area, in autistic, and control groups View table in article An asterisk (*) indicates mean NS in autism that differs significantly (/p/ < 0.05) from the mean NS in the normal comparison group. ^star, open <#bafn1>This article is based upon work supported by the Stanley Medical Research Foundation (H.H., C.S., P.R.H., and M.F.C.), the Korczak Foundation (H.v.E.), the National Alliance for Autism Research (C.S., P.R.H., and M.F.C.), the McDonnell Foundation (P.R.H.), and NIMH Grants MH61606 (M.F.C.), MH62654 (M.F.C.), MH69991 (M.F.C.), and NIH MH66392 (P.R.H). ^Corresponding Author Contact Information <#bcor1>Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 502 852 4077; fax: +1 502 852 4078. *Clinical Neuroscience Research* Volume 6, Issues 3-4 , October 2006, Pages 127-133 Recent Advances in Autism and Related Disorders, 85th Annual Conference of the ARNMD Home Browse Search - selected My Settings Alerts Help Elsevier.com (Opens new window) About ScienceDirect | Contact Us | Information for Advertisers | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ScienceDirect® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.