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Quantitative Sensory Testing in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Altered sensory perception has been found in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and might be related to aberrant sensory perception thresholds. We used the well-established, standardized Quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain to investigate 13 somatosensory parameters including thermal and tactile detection and pain thresholds in 13 ASD adults and 13 matched healthy controls with normal IQ values. There were no group differences between somatosensory detection and pain thresholds. Two ASD patients showed paradoxical heat sensations and another two ASD subjects presented dynamic mechanical allodynia; somatosensory features that were absent in controls. These findings suggest that central mechanisms during complex stimulus integration rather than peripheral dysfunctions probably determine somatosensory alterations in ASD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (Grant 2011_A37; A.M.) and by the EU (FP7-ICT-270212, ERC-2010-AdG-269716, H2020-641321; A.K.E.). We would like to thank all the patients investigated in this study for their support and commitment. Thanks to Jan Vollert (University Medical Center Bochum) and Tina Mainka (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) for their advice.

Author Contributions

OF and WG equally participated in the conception and design of the study, performed data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, drafted and reviewed the manuscript. DS, IP, ND, AM and AKE participated in the conception and design of the study, performed data interpretation and manuscript revision for important intellectual content. KF and NW participated in the conception and design of the study, performed data analysis and interpretation as well as manuscript revision for important intellectual content. UB participated in the conception and design of the study, performed data interpretation and manuscript drafting as well as manuscript revision for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

      Odette Fründt, Wiebke Grashorn, Katarina Forkmann, Nathalie Wrobel, Alexander Münchau & Ulrike Bingel

    2. Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

      Daniel Schöttle

    3. Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

      Ina Peiker

    4. Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

      Ina Peiker, Nicole David & Andreas K. Engel

    5. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

      Katarina Forkmann & Ulrike Bingel

    6. Department of Pediatric and Adult Movement Disorders and Neuropsychiatry, Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany

      Alexander Münchau

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    1. Odette Fründt
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    Correspondence to Odette Fründt.

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    Odette Fründt and Wiebke Grashorn have contributed equally to the work.

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    Fründt, O., Grashorn, W., Schöttle, D. et al. Quantitative Sensory Testing in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 1183–1192 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3041-4

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