Microglia in the Cerebral Cortex in Autism
Abstract
We immunocytochemically identified microglia in fronto-insular (FI) and visual cortex (VC) in autopsy brains of well-phenotyped subjects with autism and matched controls, and stereologically quantified the microglial densities. Densities were determined blind to phenotype using an optical fractionator probe. In FI, individuals with autism had significantly more microglia compared to controls (p = 0.02). One such subject had a microglial density in FI within the control range and was also an outlier behaviorally with respect to other subjects with autism. In VC, microglial densities were also significantly greater in individuals with autism versus controls (p = 0.0002). Since we observed increased densities of microglia in two functionally and anatomically disparate cortical areas, we suggest that these immune cells are probably denser throughout cerebral cortex in brains of people with autism.
Additional Information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Published online: 31 March 2012. This work was supported by grants from the Simons Foundation (SFARI #137661), the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and by NIH grant MH089406. The brain tissue and related anonymous phenotypic information was obtained from the NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders. We especially thank Dr. Ronald Zielke, Robert Johnson and Melissa Davis for providing the brain tissue and anonymous clinical records; our study would not have been possible without their dedicated service. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and criticisms.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 35907
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10803-012-1513-0
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20121211-104243757
- SFARI 137661
- Simons Foundation
- James S. McDonnell Foundation
- MH089406
- NIH
- Created
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2012-12-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field