Zhang Linchuan, Li Baojuan, Wang Huaning, Li Liang, Liao Qimei, Liu Yang, Bao Xianghong, Liu Wenlei, Yin Hong, Lu Hongbing, Tan Qingrong
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, PR China.
Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, PR China.
Neurosci Lett. 2017 Jul 13;653:177-182. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.05.042. Epub 2017 May 29.
As the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, the long-term persistence of obstinate auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) brings about great mental pain to patients. Neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia have indicated that AVHs were associated with altered functional and structural connectivity within the language network. However, effective connectivity that could reflect directed information flow within this network and is of great importance to understand the neural mechanisms of the disorder remains largely unknown. In this study, we utilized stochastic dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to investigate directed connections within the language network in schizophrenia patients with and without AVHs. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia (18 with AVHs and 18 without AVHs), and 37 healthy controls participated in the current resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. The results showed that the connection from the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) to left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) was significantly decreased in patients with AVHs compared to those without AVHs. Meanwhile, the effective connection from the left inferior parietal lobule (LIPL) to LMTG was significantly decreased compared to the healthy controls. Our findings suggest aberrant pattern of causal interactions within the language network in patients with AVHs, indicating that the hypoconnectivity or disrupted connection from frontal to temporal speech areas might be critical for the pathological basis of AVHs.
作为精神分裂症最常见的症状,顽固性幻听(AVHs)的长期持续存在给患者带来巨大的精神痛苦。精神分裂症的神经影像学研究表明,幻听与语言网络内功能和结构连接的改变有关。然而,有效连接能够反映该网络内的定向信息流,对于理解该疾病的神经机制非常重要,但在很大程度上仍不清楚。在本研究中,我们利用随机动态因果模型(DCM)来研究有幻听和无幻听的精神分裂症患者语言网络内的定向连接。36例精神分裂症患者(18例有幻听,18例无幻听)和37名健康对照者参与了当前的静息态功能磁共振成像(fMRI)研究。结果显示,与无幻听的患者相比,有幻听的患者从左侧额下回(LIFG)到左侧颞中回(LMTG)的连接显著减少。同时,与健康对照相比从左侧顶下小叶(LIPL)到LMTG的有效连接显著减少。我们的研究结果表明有幻听患者语言网络内因果相互作用模式异常,表明从额叶到颞叶语言区域的连接减弱或中断可能是幻听病理基础的关键。