Altered white matter network topology is associated with more profound language impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Overview

Authors: Conghui Su¹, Zhaoran Liu², Shuiqun Zhang^3,4,5,6, Aiwen Yi⁷, Yaqiong Xiao¹

Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen 518000, China
Radiology Department, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510530, China
Department of Pediatrics, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510530, China
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Obstetric Diseases, Guangzhou 510530, China
Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Guangzhou 510530, China
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Higher Education Laboratory of Maternal-Fetal Joint Medicine, Guangzhou 510530, China
Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou 511400, China

Institutions: Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (China); Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (China); Southern University of Science and Technology (China); Guangdong Province Women and Children Hospital (China)

Journal: NeuroImage. Clinical, volume 51, article 104042

Dates: received 27 April 2026; accepted 22 July 2026; published online 27 July 2026; in print 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042 · PMID 42537497 · PMCID PMC13452417 · OpenAlex W7171430720

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)

Categories: structural MRI / diffusion (modality), human (organism), autism (population)

Methods: Statistics, Machine learning, Graphs, fMRI & imaging

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Young children, Language abilities, Graph theory, Brain topological properties, Moderation analysis

MeSH: Autism Spectrum Disorder*, Brain*, Language Disorders*, Nerve Net*, White Matter*, Child, Child, Preschool, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Neural Pathways (* major topic)

Topic: Autism Spectrum Disorder Research (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex

Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China (32200808)

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 67 references in the paper

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit language deficits, yet the influence of varying language deficits on global white matter networks remains underexplored.

In this study, diffusion-weighted imaging data were collected from a cohort of Chinese children with ASD (n = 67, 54 boys) and typically developing (TD) children (n = 36, 23 boys) aged 20 to 93 months. K-means clustering divided the ASD sample into higher language (ASD-HL, n = 29) and lower language (ASD-LL, n = 38) subgroups. We examined topological properties of brain networks and compared global and nodal characteristics across ASD subgroups and TD children. Relationships between autism symptom severity, language abilities, and brain network characteristics were also assessed.

The ASD-LL subgroup showed reduced global efficiency (Eg), fewer hubs, decreased fiber connectivity, and fewer inter-hemispheric connections, compared to both ASD-HL and TD groups. Decreased Eg was associated with more severe autism symptoms in the ASD-LL subgroup, but not in the ASD-HL subgroup. Moderation analysis revealed that language ability significantly moderated the link between symptom severity and Eg: higher symptom severity was significantly associated with lower Eg in children with lower language ability, but not in those with higher language ability.

These findings suggest that language deficits contribute to alterations in white matter networks and may modulate the impact of autism symptoms on brain structural inefficiency in children with ASD. This study underscores the importance of targeting language skills in interventions and using language ability as a key stratification factor in ASD research.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data and to no code of its authors: see the Data section.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

github.com/yaqiongxiao/asd.dti.network, at github.com; found in “Data availability”

Data availability

The tidy data used for the analyses reported in this article are available at https://github.com/Yaqiongxiao/asd.DTI.network.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 5 authors, 6 keywords, 13 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 66 references.

Cite

This paper

Su, C., Liu, Z., Zhang, S., Yi, A., & Xiao, Y. (2026). Altered white matter network topology is associated with more profound language impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder. NeuroImage. Clinical, 51, 104042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042

BibTeX

@article{su2026altered, author = {Su, Conghui and Liu, Zhaoran and Zhang, Shuiqun and Yi, Aiwen and Xiao, Yaqiong}, title = {{Altered white matter network topology is associated with more profound language impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder}}, journal = {NeuroImage. Clinical}, year = {2026}, month = jul, volume = {51}, pages = {104042}, publisher = {Elsevier}, issn = {2213-1582}, doi = {10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042}, pmid = {42537497}, pmcid = {PMC13452417} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Su, Conghui AU - Liu, Zhaoran AU - Zhang, Shuiqun AU - Yi, Aiwen AU - Xiao, Yaqiong TI - Altered white matter network topology is associated with more profound language impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder T2 - NeuroImage. Clinical J2 - Neuroimage Clin PY - 2026 DA - 2026/07/27 VL - 51 SP - 104042 SN - 2213-1582 PB - Elsevier DO - 10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

{ "id": "10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042", "type": "article-journal", "title": "Altered white matter network topology is associated with more profound language impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder", "container-title": "NeuroImage. Clinical", "author": [ { "family": "Su", "given": "Conghui" }, { "family": "Liu", "given": "Zhaoran" }, { "family": "Zhang", "given": "Shuiqun" }, { "family": "Yi", "given": "Aiwen" }, { "family": "Xiao", "given": "Yaqiong" } ], "container-title-short": "Neuroimage Clin", "volume": "51", "page": "104042", "DOI": "10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042", "PMID": "42537497", "PMCID": "PMC13452417", "ISSN": "2213-1582", "publisher": "Elsevier", "URL": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104042", "language": "en", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2026, 7, 27 ] ] } }

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: code errors and mismatches between the code and the paper about this paper and its code, from readers and its authors, beside the paper and its tracing map.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code and did not get the paper's result, what they ran, with which environment, commit and data.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.