Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, Neuroscience Center, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
MEG-Unit, Goethe-University, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany.
eNeuro. 2017 Oct 17;4(5). doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0338-17.2017. eCollection 2017 Sep-Oct.
Current theories of schizophrenia (ScZ) posit that the symptoms and cognitive dysfunctions arise from a dysconnection syndrome. However, studies that have examined this hypothesis with physiological data at realistic time scales are so far scarce. The current study employed a state-of-the-art approach using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to test alterations in large-scale phase synchronization in a sample of = 16 chronic ScZ patients, 10 males and = 19 healthy participants, 10 males, during a perceptual closure task. We identified large-scale networks from source reconstructed MEG data using data-driven analyses of neuronal synchronization. Oscillation amplitudes and interareal phase-synchronization in the 3-120 Hz frequency range were estimated for 400 cortical parcels and correlated with clinical symptoms and neuropsychological scores. ScZ patients were characterized by a reduction in γ-band (30-120 Hz) oscillation amplitudes that was accompanied by a pronounced deficit in large-scale synchronization at γ-band frequencies. Synchronization was reduced within visual regions as well as between visual and frontal cortex and the reduction of synchronization correlated with elevated clinical disorganization. Accordingly, these data highlight that ScZ is associated with a profound disruption of transient synchronization, providing critical support for the notion that core aspect of the pathophysiology arises from an impairment in coordination of distributed neural activity.
目前的精神分裂症（ScZ）理论假设，症状和认知功能障碍是由连接中断综合征引起的。然而，迄今为止，使用生理数据在现实时间尺度上检验这一假设的研究还很少。本研究采用了最先进的方法，使用脑磁图（MEG）对 16 名慢性 ScZ 患者（男性 10 名）和 19 名健康参与者（男性 10 名）进行了测试，在感知封闭任务期间，研究了大尺度相位同步的变化。我们使用神经元同步的数据分析从源重建 MEG 数据中识别出大规模网络。在 3-120 Hz 的频率范围内，估计了 400 个皮质区的振荡幅度和区域间相位同步，并与临床症状和神经心理学评分相关。ScZ 患者的 γ 波段（30-120 Hz）振荡幅度降低，同时 γ 波段频率的大尺度同步明显不足。同步性在视觉区域内以及视觉和额叶皮层之间降低，同步性的降低与临床紊乱程度的升高有关。因此，这些数据突出表明 ScZ 与短暂同步的严重破坏有关，为核心病理生理学源于分布式神经活动协调障碍的观点提供了关键支持。
