Quantification of Hypoperfusion in Autism Assessed by Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy and Frequency Domain Near Infrared Spectroscopy

There is a need for quantitative biomarkers for early diagnosis of autism. We showed previously that hemoglobin concentrations show contrast between autistic group vs control group in humans. Cerebral blood flow can provide additional sensitivity for improved characterization. Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) has been shown to be reliable method to obtain blood flow contrast in animals and humans. Thus, in this study we evaluated DCS in an established autism model. Our results indicate that autistic group had significantly lower blood flow compared to control group. These results confirm the previous results obtained from humans by positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.