Abstract #0865

Sex-specific cerebrovascular reactivity differences related to functional connectivity in autistic children

Quimby N Lee¹, Joshua K Lee^2,3, Peiying Liu⁴, Danielle J Harvey⁵, Christine Wu Nordahl^2,3, and Audrey P Fan^1,6

¹Department of Neurology, University of California - Davis, School of Medicine, Davis, CA, United States, ²MIND Institute, University of California - Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States, ³Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California - Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States, ⁴Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁵Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California - Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States, ⁶Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Neuro, Pediatric, Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting-state), Functional Connectivity, Pediatric, Psychiatric Disorders

Motivation: Resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) is influenced by both neuronal and vascular function. However, cerebrovascular differences in autism identified in preclinical studies, and how they affect functional connectivity (FC), have not been investigated in autism in-vivo.

Goal(s): We evaluate relative cerebrovascular reactivity (rCVR) differences in autistic children compared to typical development and how they affect FC.

Approach: We leverage a novel rsfMRI method to measure rCVR and FC in a large database of autistic and non-autistic children.

Results: Autistic girls had elevated rCVR compared to non-autistic girls in right-frontal regions associated with attention. RCVR was positively associated with FC within the ventral attention network.

Impact: Our study highlights potential differences in cerebrovascular function in autism that could improve our neurobiological understanding of autism-related FC changes and inform new targets for intervention.

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