Centre for Cognition, Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom.
Centre for Cognition, Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom; Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto (Trento), Italy.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2021 Jan 30;307:111215. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111215. Epub 2020 Oct 21.
Altered hippocampal functioning is proposed to play a critical role in the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Previous resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) studies report disrupted hippocampal connectivity in patients with psychosis and in individuals with clinical high risk, yet hippocampal connectivity has not been investigated in people with high schizotypy traits. Here we used rs-fMRI to examine hippocampal connectivity in healthy people with low (LS, n = 23) and high levels (HS, n = 22) of schizotypal traits assessed using the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire. Using a bilateral hippocampal seed region, we examined resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between hippocampus and striatal, thalamic and prefrontal cortex regions of interest. Compared to LS, HS participants showed lower RSFC between hippocampus and striatum and between hippocampus and thalamus. Whilst the group effect of reduced hippocampal RSFC in striatal and thalamic regions was driven by total schizotypy scores, positive schizotypy subfactor scores were significantly positively correlated with hippocampus-caudate/thalamus RSFC. Group differences in RSFC were not observed between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. These results demonstrate that subclinical schizotypal traits are associated with altered hippocampal connectivity in striatal and thalamic regions and provide further support that hippocampal dysconnectivity confers risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
海马功能改变被认为在精神分裂症谱系障碍的发展中起着关键作用。先前的静息态功能磁共振成像(rs-fMRI)研究报告称，精神病患者和有临床高风险的个体中海马连接中断，但尚未在高精神分裂症特质个体中研究过海马连接。在这里，我们使用 rs-fMRI 检查了使用精神分裂症人格问卷评估的低精神分裂症特质水平（LS，n=23）和高精神分裂症特质水平（HS，n=22）的健康个体的海马连接。使用双侧海马种子区域，我们检查了海马与纹状体、丘脑和前额叶皮层感兴趣区之间的静息状态功能连接（RSFC）。与 LS 相比，HS 参与者的海马与纹状体之间以及海马与丘脑之间的 RSFC 较低。虽然海马在纹状体和丘脑区域的 RSFC 减少的组效应是由总精神分裂症评分驱动的，但阳性精神分裂症亚因子评分与海马-尾状核/丘脑的 RSFC 呈显著正相关。在海马与前额叶皮层之间未观察到 RSFC 的组间差异。这些结果表明，亚临床精神分裂症特质与纹状体和丘脑区域中海马连接的改变有关，并进一步支持海马连接中断为精神分裂症谱系障碍的风险因素。
