The Preliminary Study of Quantitative Morphology of the Corpus Callosum, Thalamus, Cerebellum and Pons in Autistic Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder / 신경정신의학

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to planimetrically measure the corpus callosum, cerebellum, pons and thalamus in the boys with autistic disorder and developmental language disorder. METHODS: The midsagittal brain MR images of 8 autistic and 8 developmental language disorder subjects who met the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria and 10 comparison subjects were collected. MR images were redigitalized with flatbed scanner and the data were analyzed with NIH IMAGE 1.61 software. Pixel counting and area measurements were done. The corpus callosum was divided into seven regions and the cerebellar vermis was divided into three regions. RESULTS: In autistic subjects, the rostrum of corpus callosum was found to have significantly smaller area than comparison and developmental language disorder subjects. In developmental language disorder subjects, the thalamus was significantly larger than comparison subjects. The cerebellar vermis and pons did not differ among three groups. CONCLUSION: The rostrum of the corpus callosum in autistic disorder was significantly smaller. This finding supports the theory of abnormal prefrontal lobe development in autistic disorder.