Department of Medical Research and Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Institute of Neuroscience, School of Life Science, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Neuroimage. 2012 Jan 2;59(1):238-47. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.07.086. Epub 2011 Aug 3.
The cingulo-opercular network (CON) is a newly defined control network responsible for various cognitive processes that have been consistently found to be impaired in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to use functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to test the hypothesis that schizophrenia is associated with functional disconnection within the CON. Thirty subjects with schizophrenia and thirty healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Each subject received resting fMRI scanning, clinical evaluations and cognitive examinations. The CON of each subject was derived by calculating the functional connectivity map of a seed in the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC). A between-group comparison was performed using a random effect analysis. Further network analyses with multiple regions of interest (ROIs) were performed to characterize the pattern of functional disconnection within the entire CON. Using the dACC seed in healthy controls, we derived the CON, which includes the following anatomical structures: the dACC; the bilateral anterior prefrontal, inferior parietal and anterior insular cortices; the putamen; the thalamus; and the cerebellum. Compared with healthy controls, schizophrenic patients showed significantly reduced functional connectivity in the bilateral putamens. Further network analysis demonstrated widespread cortico-striatal disconnection within the CON of schizophrenic patients. The disconnections correlated with negative symptom severity. Behavioral regression revealed that cortico-striatal functional connectivity predicted 2-back working memory performance in healthy controls, but not in schizophrenic patients. Our findings suggest that schizophrenia is associated with cortical-striatal disconnection within the CON. The result provides a network basis for the cortico-striatal disconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia.
扣带-脑岛网络（CON）是一个新定义的控制网络，负责各种认知过程，这些过程在精神分裂症中一直被发现存在损害。本研究旨在使用功能连接磁共振成像（fcMRI）来检验精神分裂症与 CON 内功能连接中断有关的假设。本研究纳入了 30 名精神分裂症患者和 30 名健康对照者。每位受试者均接受静息态 fMRI 扫描、临床评估和认知测试。通过计算背侧前扣带（dACC）种子的功能连接图来得出每位受试者的 CON。采用随机效应分析进行组间比较。进一步使用多个感兴趣区域（ROIs）进行网络分析，以描述整个 CON 内功能连接中断的模式。我们使用健康对照组中的 dACC 种子得出 CON，包括以下解剖结构：dACC；双侧额前皮质、顶下皮质和额内回；壳核；丘脑；和小脑。与健康对照组相比，精神分裂症患者双侧壳核的功能连接明显减少。进一步的网络分析表明，精神分裂症患者 CON 内广泛存在皮质-纹状体连接中断。这种连接中断与阴性症状严重程度相关。行为回归分析显示，皮质-纹状体功能连接可预测健康对照组的 2 回工作记忆表现，但不能预测精神分裂症患者的 2 回工作记忆表现。我们的研究结果表明，精神分裂症与 CON 内皮质-纹状体连接中断有关。该结果为精神分裂症的皮质-纹状体连接中断假说提供了网络基础。
