Zhang Li, Wang Wenli, Ruan Yuan, Li Zhiyong, Sun Le, Ji Gong-Jun, Tian Yanghua, Wang Kai
Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China.
Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei, Anhui Province, China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2025 Feb 27;25(1):182. doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-06632-7.
Schizophrenia patients frequently present with structural and functional abnormalities of the hippocampus (Hipp). Further, these abnormalities are often associated with specific symptom profiles.
To determine whether schizophrenia patients show specific functional connectivity (FC) and activity abnormalities in each hippocampal subregion compared to the BD (bipolar disorder) and HC (healthy control) groups.
Basal activation state and functional connectivity (FC) in four subregions of the bilateral Hipp were examined: left caudal (cHipp_L), right caudal (cHipp_R), left rostral (rHipp_L), and right rostral (rHipp_R). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were obtained from 62 schizophrenia patients, 57 bipolar disorder (BD) patients, and 45 healthy controls (HCs), and analyzed for fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) as a measure of basal neural activity and for whole-brain FC based on the hippocampal subregions.
The schizophrenia group exhibited greater fALFF in bilateral cHipp (the caudal part of hippocampus) and rHipp (the rostral part of hippocampus) subregions compared to BD and HC groups as well as increased FC between the bilateral cHipp and multiple brain regions, including the thalamus, putamen, middle frontal gyrus, parietal cortex, and precuneus. Moreover, fALFF values of the bilateral cHipp were positively correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.
These findings confirm an important contribution of hippocampal dysfunction, especially of the cHipp, in schizophrenia. Further, hyper-connectivity and hyperactivity of the cHipp could serve as a biomarker for therapeutic development.
精神分裂症患者常出现海马体结构和功能异常。此外，这些异常通常与特定症状特征相关。
确定与双相情感障碍（BD）组和健康对照（HC）组相比，精神分裂症患者在每个海马亚区是否表现出特定的功能连接（FC）和活动异常。
检查双侧海马体四个亚区的基础激活状态和功能连接（FC）：左侧尾侧（cHipp_L）、右侧尾侧（cHipp_R）、左侧头侧（rHipp_L）和右侧头侧（rHipp_R）。从62例精神分裂症患者、57例双相情感障碍（BD）患者和45例健康对照（HCs）中获取静息态功能磁共振图像，并分析低频波动分数振幅（fALFF）作为基础神经活动的指标，以及基于海马亚区的全脑FC。
与BD组和HC组相比，精神分裂症组双侧cHipp（海马体尾侧部分）和rHipp（海马体头侧部分）亚区的fALFF更高，并且双侧cHipp与多个脑区（包括丘脑、壳核、额中回、顶叶皮质和楔前叶）之间的FC增加。此外，双侧cHipp的fALFF值与阳性和阴性症状量表测量的临床症状严重程度呈正相关。
这些发现证实了海马功能障碍，尤其是cHipp功能障碍，在精神分裂症中的重要作用。此外，cHipp的过度连接和过度活跃可作为治疗开发的生物标志物。
