Fig. 4

Myelinated axons in OFC showed different density and trajectory variability in adults with ASD compared to neurotypical controls. a Mean density (± SE) of myelinated axons in ASD OFC was significantly lower than controls across the column, both by axon number density (a) and by total surface area ratio (c). The difference was most pronounced in deep layers. Bracket and asterisks (**) indicate significant difference between two groups found by ANOVA (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01), while asterisk on top indicates significant difference of that layer location found by post-hoc analysis. Layer marks on the horizontal axes indicate the relative starting position of each layer across the column. The density maps of individual cases are presented in (b, d) respectively. e Distribution of mean axon trajectory variation followed different trends between ASD and Control groups. While the linear regression in the Control group showed a generally constant (flat) trend across the column (no difference of slope from 0, p = 0.904), the linear regression in the ASD group showed increasing trajectory variability towards deeper layers (significant difference of slope from 0, *p = 0.001). f Axon trajectory variation across the column for each individual