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. 2020 May 6;26(5):1634–1646. doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-0756-y

Table 2.

a. Concentrations of metabolites by group, as measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in bilateral thalami and left DLPFC.

ASD TD ASD male ASD female TD male TD female Main effect of diagnosis P Main effect of gender P Interaction effect P
Primary analyses
 Thalami N N N N N N
   GABA/Water (×10−5) 19 4.57 ± 0.77 21 4.85 ± 1.16 12 4.62 ± 0.83 7 4.50 ± 0.74 12 5.33 ± 0.64 9 4.21 ± 1.41 0.49 0.049* 0.11
  Left DLPFC
   GABA/Water (×10−5) 18 4.34 ± 1.25 20 3.25 ± 1.29 10 4.85 ± 1.24 8 3.71 ± 1.00 13 3.04 ± 1.26 7 3.63 ± 1.34 0.027* 0.51 0.041*
Secondary analyses
  Thalami N N N N N N
   GABA/Cr + PCr 19 5.08 ± 0.81 21 5.44 ± 1.51 12 5.06 ± 0.78 7 5.12 ± 0.93 12 5.70 ± 1.07 9 5.09 ± 1.96
   GABA/Glx 18 5.73 ± 0.81 14 5.97 ± 2.33 11 5.67 ± 1.43 7 5.84 ± 1.61 7 5.56 ± 1.64 7 6.38 ± 2.94
   NAA/Cr + PCr 26 1.54 ± 0.21 26 1.49 ± 0.31 15 1.61 ± 0.17 11 1.45 ± 0.24 16 1.43 ± 0.32 10 1.58 ± 0.27
   Glx/Cr + PCr 21 0.98 ± 0.34 17 1.00 ± 0.29 12 1.06 ± 0.43 9 0.88 ± 0.13 10 1.05 ± 0.22 7 0.94 ± 0.37
   Cr + PCr (×108) 27 1.49 ± 0.80 26 1.45 ± 0.59 16 1.37 ± 0.75 11 1.66 ± 0.88 16 1.46 ± 0.64 10 1.44 ± 0.54
 Left DLPFC
   GABA/Cr + PCr 18 3.39 ± 0.99 20 2.92 ± 1.71 10 3.51 ± 1.07 8 3.23 ± 0.92 13 2.41 ± 1.13 7 3.87 ± 2.26
   GABA /Glx 14 2.83 ± 1.06 18 2.04 ± 1.12 9 2.88 ± 1.08 5 2.72 ± 1.13 12 1.82 ± 1.22 6 2.47 ± 0.86
   NAA/Cr + PCr 24 1.42 ± 0.23 24 1.32 ± 0.37 14 1.39 ± 0.25 10 1.46 ± 0.22 16 1.28 ± 0.41 8 1.41 ± 0.25
   Glx/Cr + PCr 18 1.30 ± 0.33 21 2.14 ± 2.73 12 1.32 ± 0.39 6 1.25 ± 0.19 14 1.71 ± 0.89 7 3.02 ± 4.66
   Cr + PCr (×108) 26 1.82 ± 1.05 28 1.72 ± 0.80 16 1.75 ± 1.06 10 1.93 ± 1.08 18 1.73 ± 0.72 10 1.70 ± 0.98
b. Quality control parameters for magnetic resonance spectra determined from LCModel
Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB)
Thalami ASD TD P
 Cho 3.95 ± 1.28 4.25 ± 2.02 0.588
 Glx 21.24 ± 10.55 21.01 ± 18.83 0.798
 mI 23.71 ± 11.65 18.78 ± 8.52 0.081
 NAA 6.86 ± 3.90 6.75 ± 3.53 0.932
 Cr + PCr 4.24 ± 1.09 4.94 ± 3.77 0.423
Left DLPFC
  Cho 5.29 ± 2.39 5.93 ± 3.39 0.606
  Glx 15.82 ± 12.10 19.95 ± 20.76 0.241
  mI 14.41 ± 7.23 15.29 ± 7.35 0.935
  NAA 8.41 ± 4.62 7.27 ± 3.69 0.272
  Cr + PCr 4.12 ± 1.90 5.00 ± 2.90 0.341
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and full width at half maximum (FWHM)
Thalami ASD TD P
 SNR 16.59 ± 6.65 15.59 ± 6.11 0.559
 FWHM 0.071 ± 0.018 0.077 ± 0.026 0.270
Left DLPFC
  SNR 15.56 ± 6.35 17.75 ± 8.09 0.299
  FWHM 0.096 ± 0.029 0.114 ± 0.043 0.105

Note: a: Values reported are mean ± SD. P values reported are from two-way ANOVAs: Thalami: F(3,36) = 2.78; Left DLPFC: F(3,34) = 4.18. *P < 0.05.

TD typically developing, Cr+PCr creatine and phosphocreatine, GABA gamma aminobutyric acid, Glx glutamine and glutamate, mI myo-inositol, NAA N-acetylaspartate.

Note: b: Values reported are mean ± SD. P values are from Welch two-sample T-test performed between ASD and TD groups. Cho choline, Glx sum of glutamine and glutamate, mI myo-inositol, NAA N-acetylaspartate, Cr + PCr creatine + phosphocreatine.