Korann Vittal, Thonse Umesh, Garani Ranjini, Jacob Arpitha, Ramkiran Shukti, Praharaj Samir K, Bharath Rose D, Kumar Vijay, Varambally Shivarama, Venkatasubramanian Ganesan, Rao Naren P
Schizophrenia Division, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
Institute of Medical Science, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Indian J Psychiatry. 2024 Jan;66(1):71-81. doi: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_560_23. Epub 2024 Jan 25.
Environmental factors considerably influence the development of the human cortex during the perinatal period, early childhood, and adolescence. Urban upbringing in the first 15 years of life is a known risk factor for schizophrenia (SCZ). Though the risk of urban birth and upbringing is well-examined from an epidemiological perspective, the biological mechanisms underlying urban upbringing remain unknown. The effect of urban birth and upbringing on functional brain connectivity in SCZ patients is not yet examined.
This is a secondary data analysis of three studies that included 87 patients with SCZ and 70 healthy volunteers (HV) aged 18 to 50 years. We calculated the developmental urbanicity index using a validated method in earlier studies. Following standard pre-processing of resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, seed-return on investment (ROI) functional connectivity analysis was performed.
The results showed a significant association between urban birth and upbringing on functional connectivity in SCZ patients and HV ( < 0.05). In SCZ patients, connections from the right caudate, anterior cingulate cortex, left and right intracalcarine cortices, left and right lingual gyri, left posterior parahippocampal cortex to the cerebellum, fusiform gyri, lateral occipital cortex, and amygdala were significantly associated with the urbanicity index ( < 0.05).
These study findings suggest a significant association between urban birth and upbringing on functional brain connectivity in regions involved in reward processing and social cognition in SCZ. Assessment of social cognition could have implications in developing an in-depth understanding of this impairment in persons with SCZ.
环境因素在围产期、幼儿期和青春期对人类大脑皮质的发育有显著影响。在生命的头15年在城市中成长是精神分裂症（SCZ）的一个已知风险因素。尽管从流行病学角度对城市出生和成长的风险进行了充分研究，但城市成长背后的生物学机制仍然未知。城市出生和成长对SCZ患者大脑功能连接的影响尚未得到研究。
这是对三项研究的二次数据分析，其中包括87例年龄在18至50岁之间的SCZ患者和70名健康志愿者（HV）。我们使用早期研究中经过验证的方法计算了发育城市指数。在对静息功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描进行标准预处理后，进行了种子-投资回报率（ROI）功能连接分析。
结果显示，城市出生和成长与SCZ患者及HV的功能连接之间存在显著关联（<0.05）。在SCZ患者中，从右侧尾状核、前扣带回皮质、左右距状皮质、左右舌回、左侧海马旁回皮质到小脑、梭状回、枕外侧皮质和杏仁核的连接与城市指数显著相关（<0.05）。
这些研究结果表明，城市出生和成长与SCZ患者中涉及奖励处理和社会认知的区域的大脑功能连接之间存在显著关联。社会认知评估可能有助于深入了解SCZ患者的这种损伤。
