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Transient and steady-state auditory gamma-band responses in first-degree relatives of people with autism spectrum disorder.

ABSTRACT: Stimulus-related ?-band oscillations, which may be related to perceptual binding, are reduced in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study was to examine auditory transient and steady-state ?-band findings in first-degree relatives of people with ASD to assess the potential familiality of these findings in ASD.Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings in 21 parents who had a child with an autism spectrum disorder (pASD) and 20 healthy adult control subjects (HC) were obtained. Gamma-band phase locking factor (PLF), and evoked and induced power to 32, 40 and 48 Hz amplitude-modulated sounds were measured for transient and steady-state responses. Participants were also tested on a number of behavioral and cognitive assessments related to the broad autism phenotype (BAP).Reliable group differences were seen primarily for steady-state responses. In the left hemisphere, pASD subjects exhibited lower phase-locked steady-state power in all three conditions. Total ?-band power, including the non-phase-locked component, was also reduced in the pASD group. In addition, pASD subjects had significantly lower PLF than the HC group. Correlations were seen between MEG measures and BAP measures.The reduction in steady-state ?-band responses in the pASD group is consistent with previous results for children with ASD. Steady-state responses may be more sensitive than transient responses to phase-locking errors in ASD. Together with the lower PLF and phase-locked power in first-degree relatives, correlations between ?-band measures and behavioral measures relevant to the BAP highlight the potential of ?-band deficits as a potential new autism endophenotype.

SUBMITTER: Rojas DC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3143088 | biostudies-other | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Transient and steady-state auditory gamma-band responses in first-degree relatives of people with autism spectrum disorder.

Rojas Donald C DC Teale Peter D PD Maharajh Keeran K Kronberg Eugene E Youngpeter Katie K Wilson Lisa B LB Wallace Alissa A Hepburn Susan S

Molecular autism 20110705

<h4>Background</h4>Stimulus-related γ-band oscillations, which may be related to perceptual binding, are reduced in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study was to examine auditory transient and steady-state γ-band findings in first-degree relatives of people with ASD to assess the potential familiality of these findings in ASD.<h4>Methods</h4>Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings in 21 parents who had a child with an autism spectrum disorder (pASD) and 20 healthy ...[more]

PMID: 21729257

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Project description:BackgroundSynchronous neural oscillatory activity in the gamma range (30-80 Hz) has been shown to be abnormal in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their first-degree relatives in response to simple auditory stimuli. Gamma-band abnormalities in ASD probands have been seen in response to language stimuli, but this has not been investigated in first-degree relatives. This is of particular interest given that language impairments are a core symptom of ASD and may be part of the broad autism phenotype (BAP) seen in relatives.MethodsMagnetoencephalography recordings during a continuous word recognition task were obtained for 23 parents of a child with ASD (pASD) and 28 adult control participants. Total and evoked gamma-band activity, as well as inter-trial phase-locking factor (PLF), were measured in response to the task. Beta-band activity was also measured, due to its suggested role in language processing. Participants completed a series of language measures to assess the relationship between brain activity and language function, and lateralization of task-related activity was assessed.ResultsThe pASD group showed increased evoked gamma and beta activity, while controls had decreased evoked activity. Additionally, while both groups showed a reduction in total gamma power (commonly seen in language tasks), this reduction was more prominent in the control group. The pASD group demonstrated significantly worse performance on a measure of phonology compared to controls. Significant but distinct relationships were found between gamma/beta activity and language measures within the two groups. In addition, while the overall task generally elicited left lateralized responses, pASD showed greater left lateralization than controls in some regions of interest.ConclusionsAbnormalities in oscillatory responses to language were seen in pASD that are consistent with previous findings in ASD probands. Gamma-band responses to language stimuli have not previously been assessed in first-degree relatives of ASD probands and these findings are supportive of gamma-band activity as a heritable, neurophysiological biomarker of ASD. The possible relationship seen between language function and neural activity in the current study should be investigated further to assess if oscillatory response abnormalities may contribute to behavioural manifestations of the BAP.

Dataset Information

Transient and steady-state auditory gamma-band responses in first-degree relatives of people with autism spectrum disorder.

Publications

Transient and steady-state auditory gamma-band responses in first-degree relatives of people with autism spectrum disorder.

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