Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had significant
variation in cortical volume, thickness, and surface area
compared with an age-matched control group, MRI brain scans
showed. The differences in people with ASD consisted primarily
of increased cortical thickness in frontal-lobe regions (P<0.003
versus control group) and reduced surface area in the
orbitofrontal cortex and posterior cingulum (P<0.05), wrote
Christine Ecker, PhD, of King's College London, and colleagues
in Archives of General Psychiatry online. Differences in surface
area accounted for a majority of the variation in cortical
volume, but in almost a third of cases, neither cortical
thickness nor surface area could account for the variation in
volume. A comparison of imaging results and scores on a
standardized autism test showed some correlation between
cortical volume and symptom severity. "Differences in cortical
volume observed in individuals with ASD may be underpinned by
cortical thickness and surface area, which exhibited st