The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.
High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of life Science and technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2021 Apr;15(2):782-787. doi: 10.1007/s11682-020-00286-7.
Basal ganglia, which include the striatum and thalamus, have key roles in motivation, emotion, motor function, also contribute to higher-order cognitive function. Previous researches have documented structural and functional alterations in basal ganglia in schizophrenia. While few studies have assessed asymmetries of these characters in basal ganglia of schizophrenia. The current study investigated this issue by using diffusion tensor imaging, anatomic T1-weight image and resting-state functional data from 88 chronic schizophrenic subjects and 92 healthy controls. The structural characteristic, including fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity (MD) and volume, were extracted and quantified from the subregions of basal ganglia, including caudate, putamen, pallidum and thalamus, through automated atlas-based method. The resting-state functional maps of these regions were also calculated through seed-based functional connectivity. Then, the laterality indexes of structural and functional features were calculated. Compared with healthy controls, schizophrenic subjects showed increased left laterality of volume in striatum and reduced left laterality of volume in thalamus. Furthermore, the difference of laterality of subregions in thalamus is compensatory in schizophrenic subjects. Importantly, the severity of patients' positive symptom was negative corelated with reduced left laterality of volume in thalamus. Our findings provide preliminary evidence demonstrating that the possibility of aberrant laterality in neural pathways and connectivity patterns related to the basal ganglia in schizophrenia.
基底神经节，包括纹状体和丘脑，在动机、情感、运动功能方面起着关键作用，也有助于更高阶的认知功能。先前的研究已经记录了精神分裂症患者基底神经节的结构和功能改变。然而，很少有研究评估精神分裂症患者基底神经节这些特征的不对称性。本研究通过使用弥散张量成像、解剖 T1 加权图像和来自 88 名慢性精神分裂症患者和 92 名健康对照者的静息态功能数据来研究这个问题。通过基于自动图谱的方法，从基底神经节的各个亚区（包括尾状核、壳核、苍白球和丘脑）中提取并量化了结构特征，包括各向异性分数、平均弥散度（MD）和体积。还通过种子为基础的功能连接计算了这些区域的静息态功能图。然后，计算了结构和功能特征的侧化指数。与健康对照组相比，精神分裂症患者的纹状体体积左侧偏侧性增加，丘脑体积左侧偏侧性降低。此外，丘脑亚区的侧化差异在精神分裂症患者中具有代偿性。重要的是，患者阳性症状的严重程度与丘脑体积左侧偏侧性降低呈负相关。我们的研究结果提供了初步证据，表明精神分裂症患者与基底神经节相关的神经通路和连接模式存在异常侧化的可能性。
