Wang Guodong, Lyu Hailong, Wu Renrong, Ou Jianjun, Zhu Furong, Liu Yi, Zhao Jingping, Guo Wenbin
Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 139, Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, 410011, China.
Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Oct;14(5):1840-1849. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00124-5.
Resting-state functional hypoconnectivity of the amygdala with several brain regions has been identified in patients with schizophrenia. However, little is known about it in individuals at clinical high risk state. Treatment-seeking, drug-naive young adults were recruited for the study. The participants included 33 adults at Clinical High Risk (CHRs), 31 adults with first-episode schizophrenia (FSZs), and 37 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls. All the participants were subjected to resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Seed-based voxel-wise amygdala/whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) was calculated and compared. In the CHR group, the right amygdala showed decreased FC with clusters located in the left orbital, right temporal, insular, and bilateral frontal and cingulate areas. In the FSZ group, the right amygdala showed decreased FC with clusters located in the right temporal, insular, cingulate, and frontal areas. Exactly 30% of the voxels showing decreased FC in the FSZ group coincided with those in the CHR group. No difference in FC was identified between the CHR and FSZ groups. Voxel-wise FC values with the left or right amygdala in the bilateral occipital cortex were negatively correlated with the PANSS total score in the FSZ group. Resting-state functional hypoconnectivity of the amygdala is a valuable risk phenotype of schizophrenia, and its distribution, rather than degree, distinguishes CHR state from schizophrenia. This particular hypoconnectivity in CHRs and FSZs is relatively independent of the symptomatology and may reflect a dysfunctional dopamine system.
精神分裂症患者已被证实存在杏仁核与多个脑区之间静息态功能连接减弱的情况。然而，对于临床高危状态个体的这一情况却知之甚少。本研究招募了寻求治疗、未使用过药物的年轻成年人。参与者包括33名临床高危（CHR）成年人、31名首发精神分裂症（FSZ）成年人以及37名年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的健康对照者。所有参与者均接受静息态功能磁共振成像扫描。计算并比较了基于种子点的体素级杏仁核/全脑功能连接（FC）。在CHR组中，右侧杏仁核与位于左侧眶部、右侧颞叶、岛叶以及双侧额叶和扣带区域的簇之间的FC降低。在FSZ组中，右侧杏仁核与位于右侧颞叶、岛叶、扣带和额叶区域的簇之间的FC降低。FSZ组中显示FC降低的体素恰好有30%与CHR组的重合。CHR组和FSZ组之间未发现FC存在差异。FSZ组双侧枕叶皮质中与左侧或右侧杏仁核的体素级FC值与PANSS总分呈负相关。杏仁核的静息态功能连接减弱是精神分裂症一种有价值的风险表型，其分布而非程度可将CHR状态与精神分裂症区分开来。CHR组和FSZ组中这种特定的连接减弱相对独立于症状学，可能反映了多巴胺系统功能失调。
