Sex similarities and differences in brain dynamic functional connectivity among individuals with and without autism spectrum disorders

Ma, X, Belmonte, MK ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4633-9400, Zhao, Y and Zhao, J, 2025. Sex similarities and differences in brain dynamic functional connectivity among individuals with and without autism spectrum disorders. Human Brain Mapping, 46 (17): e70423. ISSN 1065-9471

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Abstract

Given the historical underrepresentation of autistic females in neuroscience research, few neuroimaging studies have directly compared females and males with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to explore both sex-independent and -specific neural features. This study employed a sliding-window approach to construct dynamic functional connectivity and investigated sex similarities and differences in modular variability (nodal level), edge variability (edge level), and state variability (brain state level) in brain connectomes among individuals with and without ASD. Ninety-eight autistic individuals (49 female, 49 male; full-scale IQ ≥ 70) and 98 typically developing individuals (TD; 49 female, 49 male), matched on sex, age, and full-scale IQ, were selected from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE). Results showed that both autistic males and females exhibited reduced modular variability in the left middle frontal gyrus and diminished edge variability in the functional connectivity between the right olfactory cortex and the right paracentral lobule, compared to their TD peers. Notably, autistic individuals manifested a sex-opposite shift in the edge variability of functional connectivity between the left amygdala and the right anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri. Furthermore, greater autistic symptom severity was associated with reduced maintenance of a high-connectivity brain state characterized by functional competition between the frontal cortex and sensory-perceptual or subcortical regions. These findings reveal both shared and sex-differentiated alterations in connectome dynamics in ASD, with the sex-specific patterns aligning with the gender incoherence model. Understanding these dynamic features may inform more individualized and sex-sensitive educational and social support for individuals with ASD.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Human Brain Mapping
Creators:	Ma, X., Belmonte, M.K., Zhao, Y. and Zhao, J.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	1 December 2025
Volume:	46
Number:	17
ISSN:	1065-9471
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/hbm.70423 DOI 2550782 Other
Rights:	© 2025 The Author(s). Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	07 Jan 2026 15:19
Last Modified:	07 Jan 2026 15:19
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54963

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