Patterning of regional gene expression in autism: new complexity

Sci Rep. 2013;3:1831. doi: 10.1038/srep01831.

Abstract

Autism is a common and often severe neurodevelopmental disorder for which diverse pathophysiological processes have been proposed. Recent gene expression data comparing autistic and control brains suggest that the normal differential gene expression between frontal and temporal cortex is attenuated in autistic brains. It is unknown if regional de-differentiation occurs elsewhere in autistic brain. Using high resolution, genome-wide RNA expression microarrays and brain specimens meeting stringent selection criteria we evaluated gene expression data of two other regions: Brodmann area 19 (occipital cortex) and cerebellar cortex. In contrast to frontal/temporal cortical data, our data do not indicate an attenuation of regional specialization between occipital and cerebellar cortical regions in autistic brains.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Autistic Disorder / genetics*
  • Biomarkers / metabolism*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Brain / pathology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cerebellum / metabolism
  • Cerebellum / pathology
  • Cerebral Cortex / metabolism*
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Computational Biology
  • Frontal Lobe / metabolism*
  • Frontal Lobe / pathology
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Humans
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Temporal Lobe / metabolism*
  • Temporal Lobe / pathology

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • RNA, Messenger

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE38322