Autistic children have more brain cells and heavier brains than normally-developing children, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at the University of San Diego School of Medicine looked at post-mortem brain tissue samples from the brains of seven young autistic boys and six young typically-developing boys, all between the ages of two and 16.
The researchers found that the boys with autism had 67 percent more neurons in their pre-frontal cortex: the part of the brain responsible for higher-level functioning including language, communication and social behavior – areas in which autistic individuals are most likely to struggle. The autistic boys also had heavier brains on average than the other males.
Since neurons develop prior to birth, the study suggests that autism begins in the womb. Further research is needed to confirm these findings, but samples are hard to come by due to the scarcity of post-mortem subjects in children so young.
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