Abstract
The male preponderance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) led to the hypothesis that aspects of female biology are protective against ASD. Females with ASD (ASD-F) report more compensatory behaviors (i.e. "camouflaging") to overcome ASD-related social differences, which may be a mechanism of protection. No studies have examined sex-related brain pathways supporting camouflaging in ASD-F, despite its potential to inform mechanisms underlying the ASD sex bias. We used functional connectivity (FC) to investigate "sex-Atypical"and "sex-Typical"FC patterns linked to camouflaging in adults with ASD and examined multimodal coherence of findings via structural connectometry. Exploratory associations with cognitive/emotional functioning examined the adaptive nature of FC patterns. We found (i) "sex-Atypical"FC patterns linked to camouflaging in the hypothalamus and precuneus and (ii) "sex-Typical"patterns in the right anterior cingulate and anterior parahippocampus. Higher hypothalamic FC with a limbic reward cluster also correlated with better cognitive control/emotion recognition. Structural connectometry validated FC results with consistent brain pathways/effect patterns implicated in ASD-F. In summary, "male-Typical"and "female-Typical"brain connectivity patterns support camouflaging in ASD-F in circuits implicated in reward, emotion, and memory retrieval. "Sex-Atypical"results are consistent with fetal steroidogenic/neuroinflammatory hypotheses. However, female genetics/biology may contribute to "female-Typical"patterns implicated in camouflaging.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 316-329 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Cerebral Cortex |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 15 2023 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- autism
- camouflaging
- DTI
- MRI
- resting-state
- sex/gender
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience