Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; School of Education, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, China.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2021 Oct 30;316:111344. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111344. Epub 2021 Jul 31.
Schizophrenia is characterized by both disrupted neurodevelopmental processes and abnormal brain connectivity. However, few studies have examined the atypical features of brain network topography associated with schizophrenia during childhood and adolescence. We used graph theory to compare the grey matter structural networks of individuals (aged 10-15 years) with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) (n = 25) and a typically-developing (TD) comparison group (n = 31). Compared with the TD group, EOS patients showed significantly increased clustering and local efficiency across a range of network densities (0.3 - 0.4). The network of EOS patients also had more modules (6 modules in EOS vs. 3 modules in controls), indicating a more segregated network at the cost of functional integration. Although our results were preliminary and failed to survive corrections for multiple comparisons, EOS patients might be characterized by altered nodal centrality in several higher-order associative regions including the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus and the cerebellum. The EOS structural network also lacked the typical left-hemispheric-dominant hub distribution compared with the TD group. These findings suggest that brain structural network was not only globally but also regionally altered in EOS patients.
精神分裂症的特征既包括神经发育过程的中断，也包括大脑连接的异常。然而，很少有研究探讨与儿童和青少年精神分裂症相关的大脑网络拓扑的非典型特征。我们使用图论比较了患有早发性精神分裂症（EOS）（n=25）和典型发育（TD）对照组（n=31）个体（年龄在 10-15 岁）的灰质结构网络。与 TD 组相比，EOS 患者在多种网络密度（0.3-0.4）下表现出明显增加的聚类和局部效率。EOS 患者的网络还具有更多的模块（EOS 中有 6 个模块，对照组中有 3 个模块），这表明网络的功能整合程度降低，而节点的分离程度增加。尽管我们的结果是初步的，且未通过多重比较校正，但 EOS 患者可能表现出几个高级关联区域（包括前额叶皮层、海马体和小脑）中节点中心性的改变。与 TD 组相比，EOS 结构网络也缺乏典型的左侧半球优势中心分布。这些发现表明，EOS 患者的大脑结构网络不仅在全局上，而且在区域上都发生了改变。
