Using advanced imaging technology, a research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has identified specific portions of the brain’s white matter that are abnormally large in children with autism and developmental language disorder (DLD). The findings confirm that the previously observed overgrowth of white matter occurs after birth and suggest that it may be related to the process of myelination, in which portions of nerve cells called axons are covered with a material called myelin. The report appears in the April issue of Annals of Neurology.
