Resting‐state coupling between HbO and Hb measured by fNIRS in autism spectrum disorder

Abstract To distinguish between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children, we have uncovered a new discriminative feature, hemoglobin coupling. Functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record resting‐state hemodynamic fluctuations in the bilateral temporal lobes in 25 children with ASD and 22 TD children, in which the coupling between low frequency oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) fluctuations was evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficient. The results showed significantly weak coupling in children with ASD in both the left and right, and throughout the whole temporal cortex. To explain this observation, a simulation study was performed using a balloon model, in which we found four related parameters could impact the coupling. This study suggested that hemoglobin coupling might be applied as a new cerebral hemodynamic characteristic for ASD screening or diagnostics.