Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA; Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Translational Medicine of Mental Disorders, Guangzhou, China.
Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Translational Medicine of Mental Disorders, Guangzhou, China; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of Dementia, Guangzhou, China.
Schizophr Res. 2019 Jun;208:338-343. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.01.025. Epub 2019 Jan 28.
Evidence suggests relationships between abnormalities in various cortical and subcortical brain structures and language dysfunction in individuals with schizophrenia, and to some extent in those with increased genetic risk for this diagnosis. The topological features of the structural brain network at the systems-level and their impact on language function in schizophrenia and in those at high genetic risk has been less well studied.
Single-subject morphological brain network was constructed in a total of 71 subjects (20 patients with schizophrenia, 19 individuals at high genetic risk for schizophrenia, and 32 controls). Among these 71 subjects, 56 were involved in our previous neuroimaging studies. Graphic Theoretical Techniques was applied to calculate the global and nodal topological characteristics of the morphological brain network of each participant. Index scores for five language-related cognitive tests were also attained from each participant.
Significantly smaller nodal degree in bilateral superior occipital gyri (SOG) were observed in individuals with schizophrenia, as compared to the controls and those at high risk; while significantly reduced nodal betweenness centrality (quantifying the level of a node in connecting other nodes in the network) in right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) was found in the high-risk group, relative to controls. The right MFG nodal efficiency and hub capacity (represented by both nodal degree and betweenness centrality) of the morphological brain network were negatively associated with the wide range achievement test (WRAT) standard performance score; while the right SOG nodal degree was positively associated with the WRAT standard performance score, in the entire study sample.
These findings enhance the understanding of structural brain abnormalities at the systems-level in individuals with schizophrenia and those at high genetic risk, which may serve as critical neural substrates for the origin of the language-related impairments and symptom manifestations of schizophrenia.
有证据表明，精神分裂症患者以及在一定程度上具有这种诊断遗传高风险的个体的各种皮质和皮质下脑结构异常与语言功能障碍之间存在关系。在系统层面上，结构大脑网络的拓扑特征及其对精神分裂症和遗传高风险个体的语言功能的影响，尚未得到充分研究。
共纳入 71 名受试者（20 名精神分裂症患者、19 名遗传高风险精神分裂症个体和 32 名对照者），构建了个体的单主体形态学大脑网络。在这 71 名受试者中，有 56 名参与了我们之前的神经影像学研究。采用图论技术计算每个参与者形态学大脑网络的全局和节点拓扑特征。还从每位参与者那里获得了五项与语言相关的认知测试的指标得分。
与对照组和高遗传风险组相比，精神分裂症患者双侧顶枕上回（SOG）的节点度显著减小；而高遗传风险组右侧额中回（MFG）的节点介数中心度（衡量节点在网络中连接其他节点的程度）显著降低。形态学大脑网络的右侧 MFG 节点效率和中枢容量（由节点度和介数中心度表示）与广泛成就测验（WRAT）标准表现评分呈负相关；而右侧 SOG 节点度与 WRAT 标准表现评分呈正相关，在整个研究样本中。
这些发现增强了对精神分裂症患者和遗传高风险个体系统层面结构脑异常的理解，这些异常可能是语言相关损伤和精神分裂症症状表现的关键神经基础。
