Kirkovski, MelissaFuelscher, IanHyde, ChristianDonaldson, Peter H.Ford, Talitha C.Rossell, Susan L.Fitzgerald, Paul B.Enticott, Peter G.2025-03-152025-03-15researchoutputwizard:a383154xPUB33224Scopus:85089895190https://dspace-test.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/733717316Atypical white matter (WM) microstructure is commonly implicated in the neuropathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Fixel based analysis (FBA), at the cutting-edge of diffusion-weighted imaging, can account for crossing WM fibers and can provide indices of both WM micro- and macrostructure. We applied FBA to investigate WM structure between 25 (12 males, 13 females) adults with ASD and 24 (12 males, 12 females) matched controls. As the role of biological sex on the neuropathophysiology of ASD is of increasing interest, this was also explored. There were no significant differences in WM micro- or macrostructure between adults with ASD and matched healthy controls. When data were stratified by sex, females with ASD had reduced fiber density and cross-section (FDC), a combined metric comprised of micro- and macrostructural measures, in the corpus callosum, a finding not detected between the male sub-groups. We conclude that micro- and macrostructural WM aberrations are present in ASD, and may be influenced by biological sex.We thank Mr. Richard Nibbs for his assistance with data collection. We also acknowledge the facilities of Swinburne Neuroimaging (SNI) and its flagship funding from the Australian National Imaging Facility (NIF) under the National Collaborative Researcher Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) implemented by the Australian Government. Funding. MK is supported by an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. IF and TF are supported by Deakin University Dean’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. SR holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (GNT1154651). PF is supported by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (1078567). PE is supported by a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (FT160100077).EnglishPublisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2020 Kirkovski, Fuelscher, Hyde, Donaldson, Ford, Rossell, Fitzgerald and Enticott.autism spectrum disorderbiological sexcorpus callosumfiber density and cross-sectionfixel based analysis2020-08-1310.3389/fnint.2020.00040http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089895190&partnerID=8YFLogxK