This gland, located in the temporal lobe of the brain, is involved in the processing of emotions. The hypothesis of the study conducted in the United States that the excessive functional load in the first year of life is at the basis of the disorder
A study sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests thatamigdalaa small nucleus of the brain that is the shape and size of an almond and located in the lower part of the temporal lobe, appears abnormally enlarged in two-year-old children diagnosed with autism spectrum (ASD), but begins to grow abnormally between 6 and 12 months of age. ASD is a complex developmental disorder that affects the way a person behaves, interacts with others, communicates and learns.
Crucial period
The amygdala involved in the processing of emotions, for example the interpretation of facial expressions or the feeling of fear when feeling exposed to a threat. The authors speculate that the difficulty of processing sensory information in childhood may subject the amygdala to an exaggerated functional load, leading to its overgrowth.. The results indicate that therapies to reduce symptoms of various clinical forms of ASD may be more likely to be successful if they begin in the first year of life, before the amygdala begins its accelerated growth.
I study
The study, led by psychiatrist Mark Shen, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and published inAmerican Journal of Psychiatryincluded 408 children, 270 of whom were more likely to have ASD because they had an older sibling with ASD, 109 were developing children without specific risk factors, enrolled in the study as a control group, and 29 children had fragile X syndrome, a rare inherited disease that occurs mainly with developmental deficits and learning difficulties. The reason for the enrollment of the latter group is that some individuals with Fragile X syndrome fall within the diagnostic criteria of autism. Some of them have particular abilities and are able to perform actions that normal children cannot, such as remembering entire sections by heart or being unbeatable at some electronic and board games. The researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of all infants at 6, 12, and 24 months of age and found that the 58 infants who went on to develop an autism spectrum disorder had a normal-sized amygdala at 6. months, but that this cerebral nucleus appeared enlarged at 12 months and 24 months. Furthermore, the faster the amygdala grew, the greater the severity of ASD symptoms at 24 months. Children with fragile X syndrome had a different brain growth pattern: they did not have an increase in the growth of the amygdala, but of another brain structure, the caudate nucleus, which associated with an increase in repetitive behaviors.
April 4, 2022 (change April 4, 2022 | 09:18)
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