Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, United States.
Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, United States.
Neuroimage Clin. 2021;29:102531. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102531. Epub 2020 Dec 11.
A growing body of research has suggested that people with schizophrenia (SZ) exhibit altered patterns of functional and anatomical brain connectivity. For example, many previous resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) studies have shown that, compared to healthy controls (HC), people with SZ demonstrate hyperconnectivity between subregions of the thalamus and sensory cortices, as well as hypoconnectivity between subregions of the thalamus and prefrontal cortex. In addition to thalamic findings, hypoconnectivity between cingulo-opercular brain regions thought to be involved in salience detection has also been commonly reported in people with SZ. However, previous studies have largely relied on seed-based analyses. Seed-based approaches require researchers to define a single a priori brain region, which is then used to create a rsFC map across the entire brain. While useful for testing specific hypotheses, these analyses are limited in that only a subset of connections across the brain are explored. In the current manuscript, we leverage novel network statistical techniques in order to detect latent functional connectivity networks with organized topology that successfully differentiate people with SZ from HCs. Importantly, these techniques do not require a priori seed selection and allow for whole brain investigation, representing a comprehensive, data-driven approach to determining differential connectivity between diagnostic groups. Across two samples, (Sample 1: 35 SZ, 44 HC; Sample 2: 65 SZ, 79 HC), we found evidence for differential rsFC within a network including temporal and thalamic regions. Connectivity in this network was greater for people with SZ compared to HCs. In the second sample, we also found evidence for hypoconnectivity within a cingulo-opercular network of brain regions in people with SZ compared to HCs. In summary, our results replicate and extend previous studies suggesting hyperconnectivity between the thalamus and sensory cortices and hypoconnectivity between cingulo-opercular regions in people with SZ using data-driven statistical and graph theoretical techniques.
越来越多的研究表明，精神分裂症（SZ）患者表现出功能和解剖连接的改变模式。例如，许多先前的静息状态功能连接（rsFC）研究表明，与健康对照组（HC）相比，SZ 患者的丘脑和感觉皮层的亚区之间表现出过度连接，以及丘脑和前额叶皮层的亚区之间表现出连接不足。除了丘脑的发现之外，还经常报道 SZ 患者在被认为参与突显检测的扣带前回脑区之间存在连接不足。然而，以前的研究主要依赖于基于种子的分析。基于种子的方法要求研究人员定义一个单一的先验脑区，然后使用该脑区在整个大脑中创建 rsFC 图。虽然这些分析对于测试特定假设很有用，但它们存在局限性，因为只探索了大脑中连接的一个子集。在当前的手稿中，我们利用新的网络统计技术来检测具有组织拓扑的潜在功能连接网络，这些网络可以成功地区分 SZ 患者和 HC。重要的是，这些技术不需要先验种子选择，并且允许进行全脑研究，代表了一种全面的、基于数据的方法，用于确定诊断组之间的差异连接。在两个样本中（样本 1：35 名 SZ，44 名 HC；样本 2：65 名 SZ，79 名 HC），我们发现了证据表明在一个包括颞叶和丘脑区域的网络中存在 rsFC 的差异。与 HC 相比，该网络中的连接在 SZ 患者中更高。在第二个样本中，我们还发现了与 HC 相比，SZ 患者的扣带前回脑区网络中存在连接不足的证据。总之，我们的结果使用数据驱动的统计和图论技术复制和扩展了以前的研究，这些研究表明 SZ 患者的丘脑和感觉皮层之间存在过度连接，以及扣带前回脑区之间存在连接不足。
