Resting-state functional MRI application in schizophrenia: Clinical manifestations analysis

• Main Authors: Tsung-Wei Su, 蘇宗偉
• Other Authors: Ching-Po Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/12866308899916989834

博士 === 國立陽明大學 === 生物醫學影像暨放射科學系 === 103 === Schizophrenia has cerebral dysfunction. The functional neuroimaging features of schizophrenia clinical manifestations, positive and negative symptoms, mood and cognitive symptoms, and executive function remain unclear. Functional neuroimaging has revealed deficits in activating the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) compromise executive function, and the brain network of schizophrenia is characterized by a decreased distributed information processing efficiency. In this study, we applied resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to clinical manifestations analysis in schizophrenia. We examined small-world network metrics computed from resting-state functional MRI data collected from patients with schizophrenia and HC people. We calculated brain network efficiency by using a graph theoretical analysis on networks of brain areas, defined according to the Automated Anatomical Labeling parcellation scheme, and investigated efficiency correlations by using the 5-factor model of psychopathology in schizophrenia. The severity of psychopathology, negative symptoms, and depression and anxiety symptoms were correlated with global efficiency in the resting schizophrenic brain. The severity of psychopathology was correlated with increased network efficiency from short-range (< 40 mm) connections, but not networks from long-range (> 80 mm) connections. In addition, using seed regions in DLPFC, we examined resting-state functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia, unaffected first-degree relatives (UR), and healthy control persons. Schizophrenia patients and UR have impaired connectivity from DLPFC to its coordinated regions. These coordinated brain regions are distributed in the bilateral caudate, left middle/inferior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and right cerebellum. The individual functional connectivity strength between the left DLPFC and its coordinated regions were correlated with individual executive function performance among whole persons. Our findings indicate that schizophrenic psychopathology is correlated with brain network information processing efficiency. Moreover, our findings support that distributed neuro-integrative DLPFC deficits reflect a genetic risk for schizophrenia and that these deficits are present, to a lesser degree, in UR.