Li Xiaobo, Thermenos Heidi W, Wu Ziyan, Momura Yoko, Wu Kai, Keshavan Matcheri, Seidman Lawrence, DeLisi Lynn E
Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA; Department of Electric and Computer Engineering, , New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA.
VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA, USA.
Schizophr Res. 2016 Oct;176(2-3):100-105. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.07.022. Epub 2016 Jul 29.
Working memory impairment (especially in verbal and spatial domains) is the core neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia and the familial high-risk (FHR) population. Inconsistent results have been reported in clinical and neuroimaging studies examining the verbal- and spatial-memory deficits in the FHR subjects, due to sample differences and lack of understanding on interactions of the brain regions for processing verbal- and spatial-working memory.
Functional MRI data acquired during a verbal- vs. spatial-memory task were included from 51 young adults [26 FHR and 25 controls]. Group comparisons were conducted in brain activation patterns responding to 1) verbal-memory condition (A), 2) spatial-memory condition (B), 3) verbal higher than spatial (A-B), 4) spatial higher than verbal (B-A), 5) conjunction of brain regions that were activated during both A and B (A∧B). Group difference of the laterality index (LI) in inferior frontal lobe for condition A was also assessed.
Compared to controls, the FHR group exhibited significantly decreased brain activity in left inferior frontal during A, and significantly stronger involvement of ACC, PCC, paracentral gyrus for the contrast of A-B. The LI showed a trend of reduced left-higher-than-right pattern for verbal-memory processing in the HR group.
Our findings suggest that in the entire functional brain network for working-memory processing, verbal information processing associated brain pathways are significantly altered in people at familial high risk for developing schizophrenia. Future studies will need to examine whether these alterations may indicate vulnerability for predicting the onset of Schizophrenia.
工作记忆损害（尤其是在言语和空间领域）是精神分裂症及家族高危（FHR）人群的核心神经认知损害。在检查FHR受试者言语和空间记忆缺陷的临床和神经影像学研究中，由于样本差异以及对处理言语和空间工作记忆的脑区相互作用缺乏了解，报告的结果并不一致。
纳入了51名年轻人[26名FHR受试者和25名对照者]在言语与空间记忆任务期间采集的功能磁共振成像数据。对以下脑激活模式进行了组间比较：1）言语记忆条件（A），2）空间记忆条件（B），3）言语高于空间（A - B），4）空间高于言语（B - A），5）在A和B期间均被激活的脑区联合（A∧B）。还评估了条件A下额下回的偏侧指数（LI）的组间差异。
与对照组相比，FHR组在A期间左侧额下回的脑活动显著降低，在A - B对比中前扣带回、楔前叶和中央旁回的参与度显著增强。LI显示HR组在言语记忆处理中左高于右的模式有降低趋势。
我们的研究结果表明，在整个用于工作记忆处理的功能性脑网络中，有精神分裂症家族高危风险的人群中，与言语信息处理相关的脑通路发生了显著改变。未来的研究需要检查这些改变是否可能预示精神分裂症发病的易感性。
