Neurogenetic Profiles of Risk and Resilience in Female Autism

摘要: Understanding sex differences in brain function and genetics is critical to delineating the systems biology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but female ASD understudied. We integrate imaging genetic data a sex-balanced sample neurotypical youth evaluate hypothesis that there are female-specific pathways risk resilience. FMRI reveal neurofunctional profile characterized by motor, striatal, frontal involvement not observed male ASD. Further, we observe greater recruitment salience executive control networks among girls versus boys autistic girls, suggesting neural correlates “Female Protective Effect.” Larger copy number variants containing gene(s) expressed striatal cortex suggest etiological role for potential impacts this region. Our findings advocate caution drawing conclusions regarding based on male-predominant samples.