A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF AUTISM

A neuropathological study of autism was established and brain tissue e xamined from six mentally handicapped subjects with autism. Clinical a nd educational records were obtained and standardized diagnostic inter views conducted with the parents of cases not seen before death, Four of the six brains were megalencephalic, and areas of cortical abnormal ity were identified in four cases, There were also developmental abnor malities of the brainstem, particularly of the inferior olives. Purkin je cell number was reduced in all the adult cases, and this reduction was sometimes accompanied by gliosis. The findings do not support prev ious claims of localized neurodevelopmental abnormalities. They do poi nt to the likely involvement of the cerebral cortex in autism.