Fig. 5

Myelinated axons in OFC showed different morphometrics in adults with ASD compared to neurotypical controls. a Axon thickness, measured as minor diameter of axon cross-section, was significantly smaller in ASD compared with the Control group across all layers (ANOVA, p = 0.039). b Average axon thickness data for each individual across layers. c–h Cumulative plots of axon thickness data. Each line represents pooled thickness data of the group from the respective layer. ASD curves showed a general shift towards thinner axons, especially in deep layers (e–h). In layers 1 and 2, the ASD group curves showed a shift towards thinning only of thick axons, and a slight thickening of thinner axons, compared to controls. * indicates significant difference (p < 0.05, t test) on average thickness of pooled axons from that layer between two groups, ** indicates p < 0.01