Messaritaki Eirini, Foley Sonya, Barawi Kali, Ettinger Ulrich, Jones Derek K
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Netw Neurosci. 2023 Jan 1;7(1):213-233. doi: 10.1162/netn_a_00279. eCollection 2023.
The link between brain structural connectivity and schizotypy was explored in two healthy participant cohorts, collected at two different neuroimaging centres, comprising 140 and 115 participants, respectively. The participants completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), through which their schizotypy scores were calculated. Diffusion-MRI data were used to perform tractography and to generate the structural brain networks of the participants. The edges of the networks were weighted with the inverse radial diffusivity. Graph theoretical metrics of the default mode, sensorimotor, visual, and auditory subnetworks were derived and their correlation coefficients with the schizotypy scores were calculated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that graph theoretical measures of structural brain networks are investigated in relation to schizotypy. A positive correlation was found between the schizotypy score and the mean node degree and mean clustering coefficient of the sensorimotor and the default mode subnetworks. The nodes driving these correlations were the right postcentral gyrus, the left paracentral lobule, the right superior frontal gyrus, the left parahippocampal gyrus, and the bilateral precuneus, that is, nodes that exhibit compromised functional connectivity in schizophrenia. Implications for schizophrenia and schizotypy are discussed.
在两个不同的神经影像中心收集的两个健康参与者队列中，分别有140名和115名参与者，对大脑结构连通性与精神分裂症样特质之间的联系进行了探索。参与者完成了分裂型人格问卷（SPQ），并据此计算出他们的精神分裂症样特质得分。弥散磁共振成像（Diffusion-MRI）数据用于进行纤维束成像，并生成参与者的大脑结构网络。网络的边用反向径向扩散率加权。推导了默认模式、感觉运动、视觉和听觉子网的图论指标，并计算了它们与精神分裂症样特质得分的相关系数。据我们所知，这是首次研究大脑结构网络的图论测量与精神分裂症样特质之间的关系。在精神分裂症样特质得分与感觉运动和默认模式子网的平均节点度及平均聚类系数之间发现了正相关。驱动这些相关性的节点是右侧中央后回、左侧中央旁小叶、右侧额上回、左侧海马旁回和双侧楔前叶，即那些在精神分裂症中表现出功能连通性受损的节点。文中讨论了对精神分裂症和精神分裂症样特质的意义。
