Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Psychol Med. 2023 Sep;53(12):5582-5591. doi: 10.1017/S0033291722002793. Epub 2022 Sep 1.
Coordination between the thalamus and cortex is necessary for efficient processing of sensory information and appears disrupted in schizophrenia. The significance of this disrupted coordination (i.e. thalamocortical dysconnectivity) to the symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia is unclear. It is also unknown whether similar dysconnectivity is observed in other forms of psychotic psychopathology and associated with familial risk for psychosis. Here we examine the relevance of thalamocortical connectivity to the clinical symptoms and cognition of patients with psychotic psychopathology, their first-degree biological relatives, and a group of healthy controls.
Patients with a schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis ( = 100) or bipolar disorder with a history of psychosis ( = 33), their first-degree relatives ( = 73), and a group of healthy controls ( = 43) underwent resting functional MRI in addition to clinical and cognitive assessments as part of the Psychosis Human Connectome Project. A bilateral mediodorsal thalamus seed-based analysis was used to measure thalamocortical connectivity and test for group differences, as well as associations with symptomatology and cognition.
Reduced connectivity from mediodorsal thalamus to insular, orbitofrontal, and cerebellar regions was seen in schizophrenia. Across groups, greater symptomatology was related to less thalamocortical connectivity to the left middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, right insula, and cerebellum. Poorer cognition was related to less thalamocortical connectivity to bilateral insula. Analyses revealed similar patterns of dysconnectivity across patient groups and their relatives.
Reduced thalamo-prefrontal-cerebellar and thalamo-insular connectivity may contribute to clinical symptomatology and cognitive deficits in patients with psychosis as well as individuals with familial risk for psychotic psychopathology.
丘脑和皮层之间的协调对于有效处理感觉信息是必要的，而这种协调在精神分裂症中似乎被打乱了。这种协调的破坏（即丘脑-皮质连接中断）与精神分裂症的症状和认知缺陷的关系尚不清楚。也不知道在其他形式的精神病性精神病理学中是否观察到类似的连接中断，以及是否与精神病的家族风险相关。在这里，我们研究了丘脑-皮质连接对于有精神病性精神病理学的患者、他们的一级亲属以及一组健康对照者的临床症状和认知的相关性。
患有精神分裂症谱系诊断的患者（n=100）或有精神病病史的双相情感障碍患者（n=33）、他们的一级亲属（n=73）和一组健康对照者（n=43）接受了静息功能磁共振成像检查，同时还进行了临床和认知评估，作为精神病人类连接组计划的一部分。使用双侧内侧丘脑核种子的基于分析的方法来测量丘脑-皮质连接，并测试组间差异，以及与症状和认知的关联。
在精神分裂症患者中，从内侧丘脑到岛叶、眶额和小脑区域的连接减少。在所有组中，更多的症状与左侧额中回、前扣带回、右侧岛叶和小脑的丘脑皮质连接减少有关。认知能力越差，与双侧岛叶的丘脑皮质连接越少。分析显示，患者群体及其亲属之间存在类似的连接中断模式。
减少的丘脑-前额叶-小脑和丘脑-岛叶连接可能导致精神病患者以及有精神病性精神病理学家族风险的个体的临床症状和认知缺陷。
