Family Studies of Sensorimotor and Neurocognitive Heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are complex heritable neurodevelopmental disorders. It is likely that these disorders include individuals with different familial etiopathological mechanisms, and thus identifying biologically homogeneous subgroups of affected individuals and families is an important step to speed identification of risk genes and the development of more individualized and effective treatments. Using eye movement testing, we previously identified a profile of neurophysiological alterations in unaffected parents and siblings of individuals with ASD that was strikingly similar to that reported in ASD patients by our group and others. These data implicated ponto-cerebellar circuitry, left hemisphere frontotemporal circuitry, and prefrontal systems that were relatively independently affected. The proposed study aims to examine these promising biological intermediate phenotypes by evaluating eye and hand movement neurophysiology in family trios consisting of an individual with ASD and their unaffected biological parents. Consistent with our target recruitment rates, we have studied 30 family trios and 46 healthy controls to date including 19 family trios and 39 healthy controls during the past year. We will begin initial analyses of probands and family data during the upcoming last year of the award.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA589348
Entities
People
- John A. Sweeney
- Matthew W. Mosconi
Organizations
- University of Texas at Dallas