Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Heath, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Heath, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 2;98:109769. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2019.109769. Epub 2019 Oct 30.
Several lines of evidence identify aberrant excitatory-inhibitory neural processes across autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, particularly within the psychosocial domain. Such neural processes include increased excitatory glutamate and reduced inhibitory GABA concentrations, which may affect auditory pre-attentive processing as indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN); thus, an excitation-inhibition imbalance might lead to aberrant MMN, which might in turn drive the relationship between the MMN and psychosocial difficulties. This research has the potential to enhance the neurochemical understanding of the relationship between electrophysiology (MMN) and behavioural/clinical measures (psychosocial difficulties). Thirty-eight adults (18 male, 18-40 years) completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Glutamate and GABA concentrations in bilateral superior temporal cortex (STC) were quantified using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) while auditory MMN to a duration deviant was measured with magnetoencephalography. Spearman correlations probed the relationships between STC glutamate/GABA ratios, MMN amplitude and latency, and AQ and SPQ dimensions. Mediation effects of glutamate/GABA ratios on the relationship between MMN and AQ-SPQ dimensions were probed using causal mediation analysis. Only SPQ-interpersonal and AQ-communication were significantly correlated with right hemisphere glutamate/GABA ratios and MMN latency (ps < 0.05), which were themselves correlated (p = .035). Two mediation models were investigated, with right MMN latency as predictor and SPQ-interpersonal and AQ-communication as outcome variables. Right STC glutamate/GABA ratios significantly mediated the relationship between MMN latency and SPQ-interpersonal scores, but only partially mediated the relationship between MMN latency and AQ-communication scores. These findings support the growing body of literature pointing toward an excitation-inhibition imbalance that is central to psychosocial functioning across multi-dimensional spectrum disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, and provides neurochemical indicators of the processes that underlie psychosocial dysfunction.
有几条证据表明，在自闭症和精神分裂症谱系障碍中，兴奋性和抑制性神经过程异常，特别是在社会心理领域。这些神经过程包括兴奋性谷氨酸增加和抑制性 GABA 浓度降低，这可能会影响到不注意加工，表现为失匹配负波（MMN）；因此，兴奋-抑制失衡可能导致 MMN 异常，而 MMN 异常又可能反过来影响 MMN 与社会心理困难之间的关系。这项研究有可能增进对电生理学（MMN）与行为/临床测量（社会心理困难）之间关系的神经化学理解。38 名成年人（18 名男性，18-40 岁）完成了精神分裂症人格问卷（SPQ）和自闭症谱系商数（AQ）。使用质子磁共振波谱（1H-MRS）定量双侧颞上回（STC）中的谷氨酸和 GABA 浓度，同时使用脑磁图测量听觉 MMN 对时长偏差的反应。Spearman 相关分析探究了 STC 谷氨酸/ GABA 比值、MMN 振幅和潜伏期与 AQ 和 SPQ 维度之间的关系。使用因果中介分析探讨了谷氨酸/ GABA 比值对 MMN 与 AQ-SPQ 维度之间关系的中介效应。只有 SPQ-人际关系和 AQ-沟通与右半球谷氨酸/ GABA 比值和 MMN 潜伏期显著相关（p<0.05），而这些比值本身也相关（p=0.035）。研究了两个中介模型，以右 MMN 潜伏期为预测变量，以 SPQ-人际关系和 AQ-沟通为结果变量。右 STC 谷氨酸/ GABA 比值显著中介了 MMN 潜伏期与 SPQ-人际关系评分之间的关系，但仅部分中介了 MMN 潜伏期与 AQ-沟通评分之间的关系。这些发现支持了越来越多的文献，这些文献表明兴奋-抑制失衡是自闭症和精神分裂症等多维谱系障碍中社会心理功能的核心，为社会心理功能障碍的潜在过程提供了神经化学指标。
