ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose
The middle longitudinal fascicle (MdLF), a recently characterized white matter tract within the ventral language network, remains understudied in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We hypothesized that altered microstructural development of the MdLF contributes to language impairment in children with ASD.
Methods
Free water corrected diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tractography was employed to reconstruct the MdLF in 57 children with ASD (5.79±0.99 years) and 37 matched typically developing (TD) controls (5.99±1.38 years), aged 4–9 years. Language impairment was assessed using the Autism Behavior Checklist language subscale. General linear models and partial correlations (covarying age) were applied to investigate age-related differences of diffusion metrics and the correlation of diffusion metrics with language impairment in ASD.
Results
Significant age-by-group interactions emerged for bilateral MdLF fractional anisotropy tissue (FAt) (TD: left/right β = 0.614/0.511, p < 0.01; ASD: p > 0.05) and axial diffusivity tissue (ADt) (ASD: left/right β = −0.458/−0.348, p < 0.05; TD: p > 0.05). In ASD, FAt (r = −0.441, p < 0.001) and ADt (r = −0.28, p = 0.037) were negatively correlated with language impairment, while radial diffusivity tissue showed a positive correlation (r = 0.355, p = 0.007) in the right MdLF. There were no significant between-group differences found in diffusion metrics.
Conclusions
The MdLF exhibits aberrant developmental trajectories in preschool children with ASD, and its microstructural integrity is linked to language impairment. These findings underscore the MdLF’s role in ASD-related language deficits and highlight the importance of early neurodevelopmental assessment.
If you do not see content above, kindly GO TO SOURCE.
Not all publishers encode content in a way that enables republishing at Neuro.vip.
This post is Copyright: Doudou Cao,
Litong Ni,
Qi Qi,
Lan Zhou,
Wei Zhang,
Yi Wang,
Li Zhu,
Guolin Ma,
Fan Zhang,
Shijun Li | July 4, 2025
Wiley: Journal of Neuroimaging: Table of Contents