Analyzing white matter integrity of the basolateral amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and its association with depression in adults with ASD using the Shannon entropy technique Restricted; Files Only
Satapathy, Nishant (Spring 2023)
Abstract
Background: Individuals with ASD are four times more likely to develop depression. Regions of the brain implicated in depression include the basolateral amygdala (BLA), subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), and associated white matter (WM) tracts, which may also play an important role in ASD. This study evaluates Shannon entropy (SE) and fractional anisotropy (FA) as markers of WM integrity in adults with ASD and age-matched controls.
Methods: We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange II, consisting of 29 adult males with ASD (mean age = 37.5 years; SD=16.1; range=18-62) and 29 adult male controls with no diagnosis (CON) (mean age = 39.6 years; SD=15.1; range=18-64). FSL Version 6 and Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) were used for DTI preprocessing and analyses. Region of interest (ROI) masks were applied to evaluate SE and FA values. Main effects of age and diagnosis on SE and FA, correlations of SE and FA with measures of depression and ASD symptom severity, and the performance of SE and FA in predicting depression were all examined.
Results: There was a main effect of age on SE values in the sgACC, with individuals aged 40 to 64 having lower SE values than individuals aged 18 to 25. The older group had higher FA than individuals the younger group. SE was positively correlated with ASD symptomatology in the right amygdala; FA in the right and left amygdala and right BLA was correlated with self-reported depression scores. Post-hoc analyses identified a main effect of diagnosis for FA in the internal capsule, with ASD individuals having higher FA values than CON individuals. Planned regression analyses yielded no significant results.
Conclusions: Primary findings include main effects of age on SE and FA values within the sgACC. The positive SE correlations with ASD symptomatology in the right amygdala are consistent with prior findings and may indicate active WM changes such as axonal remodeling, which has been shown to correlate strongly with SE in animal models (Ding et al., 2017). FA within the right and left amygdala and right BLA may provide a marker of depression.
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Methods………………………………………………………………………………………….....6
Results ………………………………………………………………………………………….....10
Figures and Tables……………………………………………………………………………….27
Table 1. Summary of results for all regions of interest.…………………………......27
Figure 1. The main effect of age group on SE in the right sgACC..…………….....28
Figure 2. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the right sgACC..……………......28
Figure 3. The main effect of age group on SE in the left sgACC………………......29
Figure 4. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left sgACC……………….......29
Figure 5. The main effect of age group on SE in the right BLA……………….......30
Figure 6. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the right BLA…………………....30
Figure 7. The main effect of age group on SE in the left BLA…………………......31
Figure 8. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left BLA…………………......31
Figure 9. The main effect of age group on SE in the right amygdala…………….32
Figure 10. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the right amygdala…………...32
Figure 11. The main effect of age group on SE in the left amygdala……………..33
Figure 12. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left amygdala……………...33
Figure 13. The main effect of age group on SE in the right uncinate fasciculus...34
Figure 14. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the right uncinate fasciculus…34
Figure 15. The main effect of age group on SE in the left uncinate fasciculus….35
Figure 16. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left uncinate fasciculus…..35
Figure 17. The main effect of age group on SE in the whole brain
WM skeleton……………………………………………………………………..36
Figure 18. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the whole brain
WM skeleton……………………………………………………………………..36
Figure 19. The main effect of age group on FA in the right sgACC…………….37
Figure 20. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the right sgACC……………..37
Figure 21. The main effect of age group on FA in the left sgACC……………...38
Figure 22. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left sgACC………………38
Figure 23. The main effect of age group on FA in the right BLA……………….39
Figure 24. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the right BLA………………..39
Figure 25. The main effect of age group on FA in the left BLA………………...40
Figure 26. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left BLA. ………………..40
Figure 27. The main effect of age group on FA in the right amygdala………….41
Figure 28. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the right amygdala…………..41
Figure 29. The main effect of age group on FA in the left amygdala……………42
Figure 30. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left amygdala……………42
Figure 31. The main effect of age group on FA in the right uncinate fasciculus..43
Figure 32. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the right uncinate fasciculus...43
Figure 33. The main effect of age group on FA in the left uncinate fasciculus....44
Figure 34. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left uncinate fasciculus.....44
Figure 35. The main effect of age group on FA in the whole brain
WM skeleton……………………………………………………………………..45
Figure 36. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the whole brain
WM skeleton……………………………………………………………………..45
Figure 37. The correlation of SE in the right amygdala with SRS-2 Awareness scores……………………………………………………………………………..46
Figure 38. The correlation of SE in the right amygdala with SRS-2 Communication scores…………………………………………………………...46
Figure 39. The correlation of SE in the right amygdala with SRS-2 Motivation scores……………………………………………………………………………..47
Figure 40. The correlation of SE in the right amygdala with SRS-2 Total
scores……………………………………………………………………………..47
Figure 41. The correlation of FA in the right amygdala with BDI-II scores…….48
Table 2. Results of hierarchical regression analyses: Examining age, FA, and SE as predictors of depression (BDI-II) for each region of interest…………………49
Figure 42. Visualization of tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) results………...50
Figure 43. The main effect of age group on SE in the right PLIC………………51
Figure 44. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the right PLIC………………51
Figure 45. The main effect of age group on SE in the left PLIC………………..52
Figure 46. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left PLIC………………..52
Figure 47. The main effect of age group on SE in the left ALIC……………….53
Figure 48. The main effect of diagnosis on SE in the left ALIC……………….53
Figure 49. The main effect of age group on FA in the right PLIC………………54
Figure 50. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the right PLIC………………54
Figure 51. The main effect of age group on FA in the left PLIC………………..55
Figure 52. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left PLIC………………..56
Figure 53. The main effect of age group on FA in the left ALIC………………..56
Figure 54. The main effect of diagnosis on FA in the left ALIC………………..55
Table 2. Results of hierarchical regression analyses: Examining age, FA, and SE as predictors of depression (BDI-II) in post-hoc regions of interest…………….57
Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………….58
References ……………………………………………………………………………………….62
Appendix I……………………………………………………………………………………….71
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