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The Handbook of Neuropsychiatric Biomarkers, Endophenotypes and Genes pp 145–169Cite as

Neurostructural Endophenotypes In Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of behaviourally defi ned neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood onset characterised by impairments in communication and social reciprocity as well as a range of distinctive non-social symptoms. Despite including some of the most heritable disorders in psychiatry, it has proved difficult to identify risk genes for ASD, and to build models for the neurobiological mechanisms through which putative risk factors might operate to give rise to the ASD behavioural phenotype. In this chapter we detail why measures of brain anatomy derived from structural magnetic resonance images have been put forward as potential alternative endophenotypes that might increase our ability to identify risk genes and associated brain mechanisms for ASD. We then examine the progress that has been made so far in identifying neurostructural endophenotypes for ASD, and consider some of the challenges and opportunities presented by this new line of research in ASD neurobiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

    Armin Raznahan & Patrick F. Bolton

  2. Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, USA

    Jay N. Giedd

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  1. Armin Raznahan
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  1. Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

    Michael S. Ritsner M.D., Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine Technion) (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine Technion)

  2. Sha'ar Menashe Mental Health Center, Hadera, Israel

    Michael S. Ritsner M.D., Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine Technion) (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine Technion)

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Raznahan, A., Giedd, J.N., Bolton, P.F. (2009). Neurostructural Endophenotypes In Autism Spectrum Disorder. In: Ritsner, M.S. (eds) The Handbook of Neuropsychiatric Biomarkers, Endophenotypes and Genes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9831-4_7

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