Fig. 4
Neuronal soma volume distributions. Box plots illustrate neuronal body volume distributions in 10 structures with significantly smaller neurons (marked with a star) in 8- to 26-year-old autistic individuals with dup(15) compared to age-matched control subjects. Purkinje cells and neurons in the dentate nucleus were also smaller, but the difference did not reach the level of significance. Volume measures on the Y axis correspond to x1000 of μm3. The upper and lower boundaries of each box represent the interquartile range (IQR), whereas the whisker above and below each box marks the maximum and minimum values unless any data point lies more than 1.5 times of the IQR above the 75th percentile or 1.5 times below the 25th percentile. The characteristic features of neuron volume distribution in the dup(15) autism group in all 12 structures were lower median values (marked with horizontal line within box), lower range of 50 % of data (box range), and fewer large neurons (much lower maximum values marked by whiskers above the box). A few neurons in range above the 75th percentile are indicated by circles; however, as a result of much lower maximum values outliers occur more often in dup(15) autism