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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jan 15.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Jun 21;87(2):174–184. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.06.010

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

Statistical parametric maps on selected axial brain sections show effects of age (left) on N-acetyl-compounds (NAA) and effects of sex (right) on glutamate+glutamine (Glx) in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) participants (all analyses false discovery rate–FDR--corrected). Age-by-diagnosis interactions (left upper; orange-red positive; cyan-blue negative) for NAA covarying for sex, diagnosis, and use of any psychotropic medication. Interactions were seen in dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC), precuneus (pCu), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Correlations (left middle; orange-red positive; cyan-blue negative) of NAA with age in 78 ASD participants, covarying for sex and use of any psychotropic medication. NAA decreased with age at multiple sites, including anterior middle cingulate cortex (aMCC), superior corona radiata (SCR), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), posterior corona radiata (PCR), anterior corona radiata (ACR), corpus callosum (CC), ventral posterior cingulate cortex (vPCC), inferior frontal cortex (IFC), insula (Ins), planum temporale (PT), lenticular nucleus (LN), internal capsule (IC), and thalamus (Th). Significant interaction sites in black. Correlations of NAA (left lower) with age in 96 TD participants, covarying for sex. Decreases of NAA with age were seen in many of the same areas. Sex-by-diagnosis interactions (right upper) for Glx covarying for age, diagnosis, and use of any psychotropic medication. Positive interactions were seen in centrum semiovale (CSO) and posterior thalamic radiations (PTR). Regions (right middle) where metabolites are higher (orange-red) or lower (cyan-blue) in male than female participants covarying for age and use of any psychotropic medication; 78 (63 male/15 female) ASD participants. Sites with sex-by-diagnosis in black. Posterior middle cingulate cortex (pMCC). Regions (right lower) where metabolites are higher or lower in male than female participants covarying for age; 96 (69 male/27 female) YD participants. (For results elsewhere in brain and with other metabolites see Supplemental Figures S8–S11.)