The Atypical Functional Connectivity of Broca Area at Multiple Frequency Bands in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

As a developmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder has drawn much attention due to its severe impacts on language capacity. Broca area, an important brain region of language network, has largely involved in language-related functions. Using Autism Brain Image Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset, a total of 1454 participants (618 ASD and 836 HCs) were included in our research. In order to detect the pathophysiological mechanism of autism spectrum disorder from the perspective of language, we conducted a functional connectivity analysis with Broca as the seed in multiple frequency bands (conventional: 0.01–0.08 Hz; slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz; slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz). We found that compared with healthy controls, patients with autism spectrum disorder have demonstrated increased functional connectivity in left thalamus, left precuneus, left anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri, and left medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus in conventional frequency band (0.01-0.08Hz). The results of slow-5 frequency band (0.01-0.027Hz) presented increased functional connectivity values of left precuneus, left medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus, right medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus and right thalamus. No significant cluster was detected in the slow-4 frequency band (0.027-0.073Hz). In conclusion, the abnormal functional connectivity in patients with autism spectrum disorder has frequency-specific properties. Furthermore, the findings of conventional frequency bands (0.01-0.08Hz) were mainly contributed by slow-5 (0.01-0.027Hz). The current study might shed new light on the pathophysiological mechanism of language impairments in autism spectrum disorder.