Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Schizophr Res. 2017 Oct;188:75-81. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.01.024. Epub 2017 Jan 24.
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a cardinal feature of schizophrenia that has been associated with activation in language processing areas, in concert with higher-order cognitive brain networks. It remains to be determined whether, and if so how, the functional dynamics between these brain regions contributes to the emergence of AVH. The current study recruited 36 first-episode medication-naïve schizophrenia patients, including 18 patients with AVH, 18 patients free of AVH and 18 controls matched on age, gender and level of education. Resting-state functional MRI images were acquired for every subject and used to map functional brain connectivity. We compared functional connectivity in 18 bilateral regions of interest implicated by previous AVH studies among the three subject groups, with the aim of detecting patterns of dysconnectivity unique to or most pronounced in AVH patients. Results showed that AVH patients are characterized by dysconnectivity in neural circuitry involving the anterior cingulate cortex, insular cortex and language-related regions, comparing with both controls and non-AVH patients. Current findings suggest that abnormality in speech-sensitive areas and their functional cooperation with cortical regions involving in source monitoring and salience detection functions may contribute to the occurrence of AVH.
听觉言语幻觉 (AVH) 是精神分裂症的一个主要特征,与语言处理区域的激活有关,与高级认知脑网络协同作用。目前仍需要确定这些脑区之间的功能动态是否以及如何有助于 AVH 的出现。本研究招募了 36 名首次发作的未经药物治疗的精神分裂症患者,包括 18 名有 AVH 的患者、18 名无 AVH 的患者和 18 名在年龄、性别和教育程度上相匹配的对照组。对每位受试者进行静息状态功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 扫描,并用于绘制功能连接图。我们比较了三组受试者中先前的 AVH 研究涉及的 18 个双侧感兴趣区的功能连接,目的是检测出仅在 AVH 患者中存在或最明显的连接异常模式。结果表明,与对照组和非 AVH 患者相比,AVH 患者的神经回路存在连接异常,涉及前扣带皮层、岛叶皮层和与语言相关的区域。目前的研究结果表明,言语敏感区域及其与参与源监测和突显检测功能的皮质区域的功能合作的异常可能导致 AVH 的发生。