Sun Fenfen, Zhao Zhiyong, Lan Martin, Xu Yi, Huang Manli, Xu Dongrong
School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University & New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Neurosci Res. 2021 Jan;162:63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2020.01.003. Epub 2020 Jan 10.
Previous studies based on an assumption of connectivity stationarity reported disconnections in mirror neuron system (MNS) and mentalizing networks of schizophrenic brains with social cognitive disruptions. However, recent studies demonstrated that functional brain connections are dynamic, and static connectivity metrics fail to capture time-varying properties of functional connections. The present study used a dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) method to test whether alterations of functional connectivity in the two networks are time-varying in adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) patients. We collected resting-state fMRI data from 28 patients with AOS and 22 matched healthy controls. Static functional connectivity and dFC were used to explore the connectivity difference in the MNS and mentalizing networks between the two groups, respectively. Then a Pearson's correlation analysis between the connectivity showing intergroup differences and clinical scores was conducted in the AOS group. Compared with static functional connectivity analyses, dFC revealed state-specific connectivity decreases within the MNS network in the AOS group. Additionally, the dFC between the left middle temporal gyrus and left V5 was negatively correlated with the item2 of PANSS negative scores across all the AOS patients. Our findings suggest that social dysfunctions in AOS patients may be associated with the altered integrity and interaction of the MNS and mentalizing networks, and the functional impairments in the MNS are dynamic over time.
以往基于连接平稳性假设的研究报告称，精神分裂症患者大脑的镜像神经元系统（MNS）和心理化网络存在连接中断，伴有社会认知障碍。然而，最近的研究表明，大脑功能连接是动态的，静态连接指标无法捕捉功能连接的时变特性。本研究采用动态功能连接（dFC）方法，来测试青少年起病型精神分裂症（AOS）患者这两个网络中功能连接的改变是否随时间变化。我们收集了28例AOS患者和22例匹配的健康对照的静息态功能磁共振成像数据。分别使用静态功能连接和dFC来探究两组之间MNS和心理化网络的连接差异。然后在AOS组中，对显示组间差异的连接性与临床评分进行Pearson相关分析。与静态功能连接分析相比，dFC显示AOS组MNS网络内存在特定状态的连接性降低。此外，在所有AOS患者中，左侧颞中回与左侧V5之间的dFC与PANSS阴性评分的第2项呈负相关。我们的研究结果表明，AOS患者的社会功能障碍可能与MNS和心理化网络的完整性改变及相互作用有关，且MNS中的功能损害随时间动态变化。
