Table 2a.

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

Note: 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.

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