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Yang W, Niu H, Jin Y, Cui J, Li M, Qiu Y, Lu D, Li G, Li J. Altered dynamic functional connectivity of the thalamus subregions in patients with schizophrenia. J Psychiatr Res 2023; 167:86-92. [PMID: 37862908 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous neuroimaging studies indicated that patients with schizophrenia showed impaired thalamus and thalamo-cortical circuits. However, the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) patterns of the thalamus remain unclear. In this study, we explored the dFC of the thalamus in SZ patients and whether clinical features are correlated with altered dFC. METHODS Forty-three patients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls underwent 3.0 T rs-fMRI. Based on the human Brainnetome atlas, the thalamus is divided into 8 subregions. Subsequently, we performed flexible least squares method to calculate the dFC of each thalamus subregions. RESULTS Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia exhibited increased dFC between the thalamus and cerebellar, visual-related cortex, sensorimotor-related cortex, and frontal lobe. In addition, we found that the dFC of the thalamus and the right fusiform gyrus was negatively associated with age of onset. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrated that the dFC of specific thalamus sub-regions is altered in patients with schizophrenia. Our results further suggested the dysconnectivity of thalamus plays an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiliang Yang
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Huiming Niu
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Yiqiong Jin
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Jie Cui
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Meijuan Li
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Yuying Qiu
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Duihong Lu
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Gang Li
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Jie Li
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China.
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Ha M, Park SH, Park I, Kim T, Lee J, Kim M, Kwon JS. Aberrant cortico-thalamo-cerebellar network interactions and their association with impaired cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 9:50. [PMID: 37573437 PMCID: PMC10423253 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00375-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
Evidence indicating abnormal functional connectivity (FC) among the cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum in schizophrenia patients has increased. However, the role of the thalamus and cerebellum when integrated into intrinsic networks and how those integrated networks interact in schizophrenia patients are largely unknown. We generated an integrative network map by merging thalamic and cerebellar network maps, which were parcellated using a winner-take-all approach, onto a cortical network map. Using cognitive networks, the default mode network (DMN), the dorsal attention network (DAN), the salience network (SAL), and the central executive network (CEN) as regions of interest, the FC of 48 schizophrenia patients was compared with that of 57 healthy controls (HCs). The association between abnormal FC and cognitive impairment was also investigated in patients. FC was lower between the SAL-CEN, SAL-DMN, and DMN-CEN and within-CEN in schizophrenia patients than in HCs. Hypoconnectivity between the DMN-CEN was correlated with impaired cognition in schizophrenia patients. Our findings broadly suggest the plausible role of the thalamus and cerebellum in integrative intrinsic networks in patients, which may contribute to the disrupted triple network and cognitive dysmetria in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minji Ha
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Soo Hwan Park
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Inkyung Park
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Taekwan Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jungha Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Minah Kim
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Soo Kwon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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Wang M, Barker PB, Cascella NG, Coughlin JM, Nestadt G, Nucifora FC, Sedlak TW, Kelly A, Younes L, Geman D, Palaniyappan L, Sawa A, Yang K. Longitudinal changes in brain metabolites in healthy controls and patients with first episode psychosis: a 7-Tesla MRS study. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:2018-2029. [PMID: 36732587 PMCID: PMC10394114 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-01969-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Seven Tesla magnetic resonance spectroscopy (7T MRS) offers a precise measurement of metabolic levels in the human brain via a non-invasive approach. Studying longitudinal changes in brain metabolites could help evaluate the characteristics of disease over time. This approach may also shed light on how the age of study participants and duration of illness may influence these metabolites. This study used 7T MRS to investigate longitudinal patterns of brain metabolites in young adulthood in both healthy controls and patients. A four-year longitudinal cohort with 38 patients with first episode psychosis (onset within 2 years) and 48 healthy controls was used to examine 10 brain metabolites in 5 brain regions associated with the pathophysiology of psychosis in a comprehensive manner. Both patients and controls were found to have significant longitudinal reductions in glutamate in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Only patients were found to have a significant decrease over time in γ-aminobutyric acid, N-acetyl aspartate, myo-inositol, total choline, and total creatine in the ACC. Together we highlight the ACC with dynamic changes in several metabolites in early-stage psychosis, in contrast to the other 4 brain regions that also are known to play roles in psychosis. Meanwhile, glutathione was uniquely found to have a near zero annual percentage change in both patients and controls in all 5 brain regions during a four-year follow-up in young adulthood. Given that a reduction of the glutathione in the ACC has been reported as a feature of treatment-refractory psychosis, this observation further supports the potential of glutathione as a biomarker for this subset of patients with psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Wang
- Russell H Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Peter B Barker
- Russell H Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Nicola G Cascella
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jennifer M Coughlin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Gerald Nestadt
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Frederick C Nucifora
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Thomas W Sedlak
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Alexandra Kelly
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Laurent Younes
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Donald Geman
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Robarts Research Institution, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Akira Sawa
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Kun Yang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Schizophrenia and psychedelic state: Dysconnection versus hyper-connection. A perspective on two different models of psychosis stemming from dysfunctional integration processes. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:59-67. [PMID: 35931756 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01721-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Psychotic symptoms are a cross-sectional dimension affecting multiple diagnostic categories, despite schizophrenia represents the prototype of psychoses. Initially, dopamine was considered the most involved molecule in the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Over the next years, several biological factors were added to the discussion helping to constitute the concept of schizophrenia as a disease marked by a deficit of functional integration, contributing to the formulation of the Dysconnection Hypothesis in 1995. Nowadays the notion of dysconnection persists in the conceptualization of schizophrenia enriched by neuroimaging findings which corroborate the hypothesis. At the same time, in recent years, psychedelics received a lot of attention by the scientific community and astonishing findings emerged about the rearrangement of brain networks under the effect of these compounds. Specifically, a global decrease in functional connectivity was found, highlighting the disintegration of preserved and functional circuits and an increase of overall connectivity in the brain. The aim of this paper is to compare the biological bases of dysconnection in schizophrenia with the alterations of neuronal cyto-architecture induced by psychedelics and the consequent state of cerebral hyper-connection. These two models of psychosis, despite diametrically opposed, imply a substantial deficit of integration of neural signaling reached through two opposite paths.
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Broeders TAA, Bhogal AA, Morsinkhof LM, Schoonheim MM, Röder CH, Edens M, Klomp DWJ, Wijnen JP, Vinkers CH. Glutamate levels across deep brain structures in patients with a psychotic disorder and its relation to cognitive functioning. J Psychopharmacol 2022; 36:489-497. [PMID: 35243931 PMCID: PMC9066676 DOI: 10.1177/02698811221077199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with psychotic disorders often show prominent cognitive impairment. Glutamate seems to play a prominent role, but its role in deep gray matter (DGM) regions is unclear. AIMS To evaluate glutamate levels within deep gray matter structures in patients with a psychotic disorder in relation to cognitive functioning, using advanced spectroscopic acquisition, reconstruction, and post-processing techniques. METHODS A 7-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner combined with a lipid suppression coil and subject-specific water suppression pulses was used to acquire high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging data. Tissue fraction correction and registration to a standard brain were performed for group comparison in specifically delineated DGM regions. The brief assessment of cognition in schizophrenia was used to evaluate cognitive status. RESULTS Average glutamate levels across DGM structures (i.e. caudate, pallidum, putamen, and thalamus) in mostly medicated patients with a psychotic disorder (n = 16, age = 33, 4 females) were lower compared to healthy controls (n = 23, age = 24, 7 females; p = 0.005, d = 1.06). Stratified analyses showed lower glutamate levels in the caudate (p = 0.046, d = 0.76) and putamen p = 0.013, d = 0.94). These findings were largely explained by age differences between groups. DGM glutamate levels were positively correlated with psychomotor speed (r(30) = 0.49, p = 0.028), but not with other cognitive domains. CONCLUSIONS We find reduced glutamate levels across DGM structures including the caudate and putamen in patients with a psychotic disorder that are linked to psychomotor speed. Despite limitations concerning age differences, these results underscore the potential role of detailed in vivo glutamate assessments to understand cognitive deficits in psychotic disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tommy AA Broeders
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands,Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,Tommy AA Broeders, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Alex A Bhogal
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Lisan M Morsinkhof
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Menno M Schoonheim
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Christian H Röder
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Mirte Edens
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Dennis WJ Klomp
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jannie P Wijnen
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Christiaan H Vinkers
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands,Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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