Eack Shaun M, Wojtalik Jessica A, Keshavan Matcheri S, Minshew Nancy J
School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, United States; Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States.
School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, United States.
Schizophr Res. 2017 May;183:102-109. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.03.009. Epub 2017 Mar 11.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia are neurodevelopmental conditions that are characterized by significant social impairment. Emerging genomic and neurobiological evidence has increasingly pointed to shared pathophysiologic mechanisms in the two disorders. Overlap in social impairment may reflect similar underlying neural dysfunction in social-cognitive brain networks, yet few studies have directly compared brain function and communication between those with ASD and schizophrenia.
Outpatients with schizophrenia (n=36), ASD (n=33), and healthy volunteers (n=37) completed a visual perspective-taking task during functional neuroimaging at 3T to assess similarities and differences in fronto-temporal brain function and connectivity during social-cognitive processing. Analyses employed general linear models to examine differences in amplitude of BOLD-signal response between disorder groups, and computed functional connectivity coefficients to investigate differences in the connectivity profiles of networks implicated in social cognition.
Despite similar behavioral impairments, participants with ASD and schizophrenia evidenced distinct neural abnormalities during perspective-taking. Functional activation results indicated reduced temporo-parietal junction and medial prefrontal activity in ASD compared to schizophrenia (all P<0.002). Functional connectivity analyses further revealed significantly greater local orbitofrontal connectivity in ASD than schizophrenia (all P<0.028) during perspective-taking. Differences in brain activation and connectivity were unrelated to antipsychotic medication dose.
Autism and schizophrenia are characterized by similar social-cognitive impairments that may stem from different underlying abnormalities in the functional organization and communication of the social brain.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和精神分裂症是神经发育性疾病，其特征是存在明显的社交障碍。新出现的基因组学和神经生物学证据越来越多地指向这两种疾病中共同的病理生理机制。社交障碍的重叠可能反映了社会认知脑网络中类似的潜在神经功能障碍，但很少有研究直接比较ASD患者和精神分裂症患者之间的脑功能和交流情况。
精神分裂症门诊患者（n = 36）、ASD患者（n = 33）和健康志愿者（n = 37）在3T功能神经成像期间完成了一项视觉换位思考任务，以评估社会认知处理过程中额颞叶脑功能和连接性的异同。分析采用一般线性模型来检查疾病组之间BOLD信号反应幅度的差异，并计算功能连接系数以研究参与社会认知的网络连接模式的差异。
尽管存在相似的行为障碍，但ASD患者和精神分裂症患者在换位思考过程中表现出不同的神经异常。功能激活结果表明，与精神分裂症患者相比，ASD患者颞顶叶交界处和内侧前额叶活动减少（所有P < 0.002）。功能连接性分析进一步显示，在换位思考过程中，ASD患者的局部眶额连接性比精神分裂症患者显著更强（所有P < 0.028）。脑激活和连接性的差异与抗精神病药物剂量无关。
自闭症和精神分裂症的特征是相似的社会认知障碍，这可能源于社会脑功能组织和交流中不同的潜在异常。
