Autism linked to connectivity lapses in brain

Philadelphia, December 1: Autism, a brain development disorder, typically characterized by impaired social interaction and communication in children, can actually be put down to connectivity troubles in the brain, researchers of a new study revealed on Monday.

Brain activity in children afflicted with autism is about a fraction of a second slower than non-autistic children, researchers found.

For the study, researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia enrolled 64 (30 autistic and 34 normal) children aged between 6 and 15 years.

Each participant was then made to hear a range of audio stimulations like recorded beeps, vowels and sentences. Simultaneously, using the magnetoencephalography (MEG), an imaging technique that helps measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain, the brain’s response to each sound was recorded.

Interestingly, autistic brains were slower in reacting to sounds as compared to normal children. Compared to the reaction time of 1/10 of a second in brains of normal children, the autistic brains posted a delay of 20 milliseconds.

"This delay in processing certain types and streams of sound may underpin the subsequent language processing and communication impairment seen in autistic children," Timothy Roberts, vice chairman of research in the Department of Radiology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, stated while presenting the findings at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on Monday.

Listing the possible drivers of the disorder, Roberts said, "There could be abnormal routing or a lack of connectivity in the brain."

Roberts was optimistic that the new findings would be the guiding force against the perplexing mental disorder. He stated, "We hope that in the future these signatures will also be revealed in the infant brain to help diagnose autism and allow earlier intervention."

Autism is a life long mental disability that afflicts a child before the age of 3. Typically characterized by impaired social interactions and disabled verbal and non-verbal communications, the symptoms run from mild to severe. Those afflicted with autism exhibit rigid routines and repetitive behaviors.

With an astounding 1 in 150 children in United States being affected by the disorder, the condition is 4 times more prevalent in boys than girls.