Bjorkquist Olivia A, Olsen Emily K, Nelson Brady D, Herbener Ellen S
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Schizophr Res. 2016 Aug;175(1-3):35-41. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 Apr 12.
Individuals with schizophrenia evidence impaired emotional functioning. Abnormal amygdala activity has been identified as an etiological factor underlying affective impairment in this population, but the exact nature remains unclear. The current study utilized psychophysiological interaction analyses to examine functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during an emotion perception task. Participants with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC) viewed and rated positive, negative, and neutral images while undergoing functional neuroimaging. Results revealed a significant group difference in right amygdala-mPFC connectivity during perception of negative versus neutral images. Specifically, HC participants demonstrated positive functional coupling between the amygdala and mPFC, consistent with co-active processing of salient information. In contrast, SZ participants evidenced negative functional coupling, consistent with top-down inhibition of the amygdala by the mPFC. A significant positive correlation between connectivity strength during negative image perception and clinician-rated social functioning was also observed in SZ participants, such that weaker right amygdala-mPFC coupling during negative compared to neutral image perception was associated with poorer social functioning. Overall, results suggest that emotional dysfunction and associated deficits in functional outcome in schizophrenia may relate to abnormal interactions between the amygdala and mPFC during perception of emotional stimuli. This study adds to the growing literature on abnormal functional connections in schizophrenia and supports the functional disconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia.
精神分裂症患者存在情感功能受损的迹象。杏仁核活动异常已被确定为该人群情感障碍的一个病因，但确切性质仍不清楚。当前研究利用心理生理交互分析来检查在情绪感知任务期间杏仁核与内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）之间的功能连接。精神分裂症患者（SZ）和健康对照者（HC）在接受功能神经成像时观看并对正性、负性和中性图像进行评分。结果显示，在负性图像与中性图像感知期间，右侧杏仁核 - mPFC连接存在显著的组间差异。具体而言，HC参与者在杏仁核和mPFC之间表现出正性功能耦合，这与显著信息的共同激活处理一致。相比之下，SZ参与者表现出负性功能耦合，这与mPFC对杏仁核的自上而下抑制一致。在SZ参与者中还观察到负性图像感知期间连接强度与临床医生评定的社会功能之间存在显著正相关，即与中性图像感知相比，负性图像感知期间右侧杏仁核 - mPFC耦合较弱与较差的社会功能相关。总体而言，结果表明精神分裂症患者的情感功能障碍及相关功能结局缺陷可能与情绪刺激感知期间杏仁核和mPFC之间的异常相互作用有关。这项研究增加了关于精神分裂症异常功能连接的不断增长的文献，并支持精神分裂症的功能断开假说。
