Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan.
Eur J Neurosci. 2024 Apr;59(8):1961-1976. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16298. Epub 2024 Mar 5.
Prominent pathological hypotheses for schizophrenia include auditory processing deficits and dysconnectivity within cerebral networks. However, most neuroimaging studies have focused on impairments in either resting-state or task-related functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia. The aims of our study were to examine (1) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals during auditory steady-state response (ASSR) tasks, (2) functional connectivity during the resting-state and ASSR tasks and (3) state shifts between the resting-state and ASSR tasks in patients with schizophrenia. To reduce the functional consequences of scanner noise, we employed resting-state and sparse sampling auditory fMRI paradigms in 25 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy controls. Auditory stimuli were binaural click trains at frequencies of 20, 30, 40 and 80 Hz. Based on the detected ASSR-evoked BOLD signals, we examined the functional connectivity between the thalamus and bilateral auditory cortex during both the resting state and ASSR task state, as well as their alterations. The schizophrenia group exhibited significantly diminished BOLD signals in the bilateral auditory cortex and thalamus during the 80 Hz ASSR task (corrected p < 0.05). We observed a significant inverse relationship between the resting state and ASSR task state in altered functional connectivity within the thalamo-auditory network in schizophrenia patients. Specifically, our findings demonstrated stronger functional connectivity in the resting state (p < 0.004) and reduced functional connectivity during the ASSR task (p = 0.048), which was mediated by abnormal state shifts, within the schizophrenia group. These results highlight the presence of abnormal thalamocortical connectivity associated with deficits in the shift between resting and task states in patients with schizophrenia.
精神分裂症的主要病理假说包括听觉处理缺陷和大脑网络内的连接中断。然而，大多数神经影像学研究主要集中在精神分裂症患者的静息态或任务相关功能连接的损伤上。我们的研究目的是检查：（1）听觉稳态反应（ASSR）任务期间的血氧水平依赖（BOLD）信号；（2）静息态和 ASSR 任务期间的功能连接；（3）精神分裂症患者静息态和 ASSR 任务之间的状态转变。为了减少扫描仪噪声的功能后果，我们在 25 名精神分裂症患者和 25 名健康对照组中使用了静息态和稀疏采样听觉 fMRI 范式。听觉刺激是频率为 20、30、40 和 80Hz 的双耳点击列车。基于检测到的 ASSR 诱发的 BOLD 信号，我们检查了静息态和 ASSR 任务状态下丘脑和双侧听觉皮层之间的功能连接及其变化。精神分裂症组在 80Hz ASSR 任务期间双侧听觉皮层和丘脑的 BOLD 信号明显减弱（校正后 p<0.05）。我们观察到精神分裂症患者丘脑-听觉网络内改变的功能连接中存在静息状态和 ASSR 任务状态之间的显著反向关系。具体来说，我们的研究结果表明，精神分裂症组在静息状态下的功能连接更强（p<0.004），而在 ASSR 任务期间的功能连接更弱（p=0.048），这是由异常状态转变介导的。这些结果突出了异常的丘脑皮质连接的存在，这与精神分裂症患者在静息和任务状态之间转变的缺陷有关。
