Researchers have identified brain connectivity patterns tied to autism symptom severity in children diagnosed with either autism or ADHD. The findings, from a study led by the Child Mind Institute, suggest shared biological mechanisms across these conditions regardless of formal diagnosis. These patterns align with genetic activity involved in neural development.
A team led by Adriana Di Martino, founding director of the Autism Center at the Child Mind Institute, analyzed resting-state functional MRI scans from 166 verbal children aged 6 to 12. The children had diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder without autism. Those with stronger autism symptoms displayed unusually strong connections between the frontoparietal and default-mode brain networks, which support social thinking and executive function, the study found. In typical development, such connections weaken over time to allow brain specialization, but this did not occur similarly in these children with pronounced autism traits—the pattern held across both diagnostic groups, published in Molecular Psychiatry. The researchers linked these connectivity differences to regions of gene expression associated with neural development, genes previously tied to both autism and ADHD. Di Martino noted, 'We see in the clinic that some children with ADHD share symptoms qualitatively similar to those observed in autism, even if they do not fully meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD.' She added that focusing on shared brain-gene expression patterns points to a common biological basis, offering a more nuanced, dimensional view of neurodevelopmental conditions. To connect brain imaging with genetics, the team employed an integrative method combining advanced MRI with computational spatial transcriptomic analysis. The results support dimensional models over strict categories for studying these disorders and could aid in identifying biomarkers for better recognition and treatment. Initiatives like the Child Mind Institute's Healthy Brain Network provide supporting data through large-scale imaging and evaluations.
