Thalamic Functional Connectivity and Sensorimotor Processing in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Overview

Journal Front Neurosci

Date 2024 Jan 1

PMID 38161799

Authors

Smitha Karavallil Achuthan

Despina Stavrinos

Paula Argueta

Caroline Vanderburgh

Haley B Holm

Rajesh K Kana

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

One of the earliest neurobiological findings in autism has been the differences in the thalamocortical pathway connectivity, suggesting the vital role thalamus plays in human experience. The present functional MRI study investigated resting-state functional connectivity of the thalamus in 49 (autistic, ADHD, and neurotypical) young adults. All participants underwent structural MRI and eyes-open resting state functional MRI scans. After preprocessing the imaging data using Conn's connectivity toolbox, a seed-based functional connectivity analysis was conducted using bilateral thalamus as primary seeds. Autistic participants showed stronger thalamic connectivity, relative to ADHD and neurotypical participants, between the right thalamus and right precentral gyrus, right pars opercularis-BA44, right postcentral gyrus, and the right superior parietal lobule (RSPL). Autistic participants also showed significantly increased connectivity between the left thalamus and the right precentral gyrus. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between autistic traits and left thalamic-precentral connectivity (R = 0.1113), as well as between autistic traits and right postcentral gyrus and RSPL connectivity (R = 0.1204) in autistic participants compared to ADHD. These findings provide significant insights into the role of thalamus in coordinating neural information processing and its alterations in neurodevelopmental disorders.

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