Wang Lu, Liu Ruishan, Liao Juan, Xiong Xin, Xia Linfeng, Wang Weiwei, Liu Junqi, Zhao Fulin, Zhuo Lihua, Li Hongwei
Medical Imaging College, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Department of Radiology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang, Sichuan Mental Health Center, Mianyang, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Aug 23;15:1465758. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1465758. eCollection 2024.
Previous studies based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) have demonstrated significant abnormalities in brain structure and resting-state functional brain activity in patients with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS), compared with healthy controls (HCs), and these alterations were closely related to the pathogenesis of EOS. However, previous studies suffer from the limitations of small sample sizes and high heterogeneity of results. Therefore, the present study aimed to effectively integrate previous studies to identify common and specific brain functional and structural abnormalities in patients with EOS.
The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang databases were systematically searched to identify publications on abnormalities in resting-state regional functional brain activity and gray matter volume (GMV) in patients with EOS. Then, we utilized the Seed-based Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI) software to conduct a whole-brain voxel meta-analysis of VBM and rs-fMRI studies, respectively, and followed by multimodal overlapping on this basis to comprehensively identify brain structural and functional abnormalities in patients with EOS.
A total of 27 original studies (28 datasets) were included in the present meta-analysis, including 12 studies (13 datasets) related to resting-state functional brain activity (496 EOS patients, 395 HCs) and 15 studies (15 datasets) related to GMV (458 EOS patients, 531 HCs). Overall, in the functional meta-analysis, patients with EOS showed significantly increased resting-state functional brain activity in the left middle frontal gyrus (extending to the triangular part of the left inferior frontal gyrus) and the right caudate nucleus. On the other hand, in the structural meta-analysis, patients with EOS showed significantly decreased GMV in the right superior temporal gyrus (extending to the right rolandic operculum), the right middle temporal gyrus, and the temporal pole (superior temporal gyrus).
This meta-analysis revealed that some regions in the EOS exhibited significant structural or functional abnormalities, such as the temporal gyri, prefrontal cortex, and striatum. These findings may help deepen our understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of EOS and provide potential biomarkers for the diagnosis or treatment of EOS.
以往基于静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）和基于体素的形态学测量（VBM）的研究表明，与健康对照（HCs）相比，早发性精神分裂症（EOS）患者的脑结构和静息态脑功能活动存在显著异常，且这些改变与EOS的发病机制密切相关。然而，以往研究存在样本量小和结果异质性高的局限性。因此，本研究旨在有效整合以往研究，以确定EOS患者常见和特定的脑功能及结构异常。
系统检索PubMed、Web of Science、Embase、中国知网（CNKI）和万方数据库，以确定关于EOS患者静息态区域脑功能活动和灰质体积（GMV）异常的研究。然后，我们利用基于种子点的受试者图像置换映射（SDM-PSI）软件分别对VBM和rs-fMRI研究进行全脑体素元分析，并在此基础上进行多模态重叠分析，以全面确定EOS患者的脑结构和功能异常。
本元分析共纳入27项原始研究（28个数据集），其中12项研究（13个数据集）与静息态脑功能活动相关（496例EOS患者，395例HCs），15项研究（15个数据集）与GMV相关（458例EOS患者，531例HCs）。总体而言，在功能元分析中，EOS患者在左侧额中回（延伸至左侧额下回三角部）和右侧尾状核的静息态脑功能活动显著增加。另一方面，在结构元分析中，EOS患者在右侧颞上回（延伸至右侧中央沟盖）、右侧颞中回和颞极（颞上回）的GMV显著降低。
这项元分析表明，EOS患者的某些脑区存在显著的结构或功能异常，如颞回、前额叶皮质和纹状体。这些发现可能有助于加深我们对EOS潜在病理生理机制的理解，并为EOS的诊断或治疗提供潜在的生物标志物。
