ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (7): 1239-1250.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01239

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The neural mechanisms of developmental motor disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder

WANG Lin, WANG Zhidan, WANG Hongjing   

  1. School of Education Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221006, China
  • Received:2019-09-15 Online:2021-07-15 Published:2021-05-24

Abstract: Developmental motor disorders are the common feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through a systematic review of the neuroscience literature, it is found that the alteration in the concentration of GABA and of serotonin and the abnormal expression of GABA-related protein and of shank protein led to not only the defects of the development of the central nervous system but also the synaptic excitation/ inhibition imbalance, thus in turn resulting in the changes of the functional connectivity between cerebellum and motor cortex in children with ASD. The abnormalities in the structure of the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and corpus callosum had a negative impact on the whole-brain connectivity in children with ASD. The disorders in neurobiochemical mechanisms and the abnormalities of brain structure together triggered abnormal brain function of children with ASD, which ultimately resulted in developmental motor disorders. In addition, the common neural basis shared by the developmental motor disorders and the core symptoms of ASD mainly included the mirror neuron dysfunction, the abnormalities of the thalamus, the basal ganglia, the cerebellum and mutations of SLC7A5 and PTEN. Future researches need to focus on other neurotransmitters closely related to motor, such as acetylcholine and dopamine, to explore the dynamic mechanism and formation of the neural network of developmental motor disorders, and to analyze the interaction between the underlying neural mechanisms of motor developmental disorders and that of core symptoms of autism.

Key words: autism spectrum disorders, children, developmental motor disorders, neural mechanism

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