Functional connectivity between hemispheres and schizophrenic symptoms: a longitudinal study of interhemispheric EEG coherence in patients with acute exacerbations of schizophrenia

Distinct inter-hemispheric dysconnectivity in schizophrenia patients with and without auditory verbal hallucinations

Evidence from behavioral, electrophysiological and diffusion-weighted imaging studies suggest that schizophrenia patients suffer from deficiencies in bilateral brain communication, and this disruption may be related to the occurrence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). To increase our understanding of aberrant inter-hemispheric communication in relation to AVH, we recruited two groups of first-episode schizophrenia patients: one group with AVH (N = 18 AVH patients) and one without hallucinations (N = 18 Non-AVH patients), and 20 healthy controls. All participants received T1 structural imaging and resting-state fMRI scanning. We adopted a newly developed index, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC), to quantitatively describe bilateral functional connectivity. The whole-brain VMHC measure was compared among the three groups and correlation analyses were conducted between symptomology scores and neurological measures. Our findings suggest all patients shared abnormalities in parahippocampus and striatum. Aberrant bilateral connectivity of default mode network (DMN), inferior frontal gyrus and cerebellum only showed in AVH patients, whereas aberrances in superior temporal gyrus and precentral gyrus were specific to Non-AVH patients. Meanwhile, inter-hemispheric connectivity of DMN correlated with patients' symptomatology scores. This study corroborates that schizophrenia is characterized by inter-hemispheric dysconnectivity, and suggests the localization of such abnormalities may be crucial to whether auditory verbal hallucinations develop.

EEG-based investigation of brain connectivity changes in psychotic patients undergoing the primitive expression form of dance therapy: a methodological pilot study

Primitive expression (PE) is a form of dance therapy (DT) that involves an interaction of ethologically and socially based forms which are supplied for re-enactment. There exist very few studies of DT applications including in their protocol the measurement of neurophysiological parameters. The present pilot study investigates the use of the correlation coefficient (ρ) and mutual information (MI), and of novel measures extracted from ρ and MI, on electroencephalographic (EEG) data recorded in patients with schizophrenia while they undergo PE DT, in order to expand the set of neurophysiology-based approaches for quantifying possible DT effects, using parameters that might provide insights about any potential brain connectivity changes in these patients during the PE DT process. Indication is provided for an acute potentiation effect, apparent at late-stage PE DT, on the inter-hemispheric connectivity in frontal areas, as well as for attenuation of the inter-hemispheric connectivity of left frontal and right central areas and for potentiation of the intra-hemispheric connectivity of frontal and central areas, bilaterally, in the transition from early to late-stage PE DT. This pilot study indicates that by using EEG connectivity measures based on ρ and MI, the set of useful neurophysiology-based approaches for quantifying possible DT effects is expanded. In the framework of the present study, the causes of the observed connectivity changes cannot be attributed with certainty to PE DT, but indications are provided that these measures may contribute to a detailed assessment of neurophysiological mechanisms possibly being affected by this therapeutic process.

Interhemispheric EEG coherence is reduced in auditory cortical regions in schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations

Central auditory processing has been reported to be impaired in schizophrenia patients who experience auditory hallucinations, and interhemispheric transfer in auditory circuits may be compromised. In this study, we used EEG spectral coherence to examine interhemispheric connectivity between cortical areas known to be important in the processing of auditory information. Coherence was compared across three subject groups: schizophrenia patients with a recent history of auditory hallucinations (AH), schizophrenia patients who did not experience auditory hallucinations (nonAH), and healthy controls (HC). Subjects listened to pure tone and word stimuli while EEG was recorded continuously. Upper alpha and upper beta band coherence was calculated from six pairs of electrodes located over homologous auditory areas in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Significant between-group differences were found on four electrode pairs (C3-C4, C5-C6, Ft7-Ft8 and Cp5-Cp6) in the upper alpha band. Relative to both the HC and nonAH groups, coherence was lower in the AH patients, consistent with the hypothesis that interhemispheric connectivity is reduced in these patients.

Decreased interhemispheric coordination in schizophrenia: a resting state fMRI study

Schizophrenia has been increasingly conceptualized as a disorder of brain connectivity, in large part due to findings emerging from white matter and functional connectivity (FC) studies. This work has focused primarily on within-hemispheric connectivity, however some evidence has suggested abnormalities in callosal structure and interhemispheric interaction. Here we examined functional connectivity between homotopic points in the brain using a technique called voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). We performed VMHC analyses on resting state fMRI data from 23 healthy controls and 25 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. We found highly significant reductions in VMHC in patients for a number of regions, particularly the occipital lobe, the thalamus, and the cerebellum. No regions of increased VMHC were detected in patients. VMHC in the postcentral gyrus extending into the precentral gyrus was correlated with PANSS Total scores. These results show substantial impairment of interhemispheric coordination in schizophrenia.

Applied strategies towards EEG/MEG biomarker identification in clinical and cognitive research

As the underlying causes of several neuronal disorders and neurodegenerative diseases still remain, to some extent, unknown and no accurate diagnostic tests are available, the identification of prognostic and predictive neurophysiological biomarkers has attracted tremendous interest. The continuous advancement of neuroscience methods applied in EEG and magnetoencephalography has been successful in capturing brain processes and identifying persistent cognitive deficits. In this article, the most promising approaches of this rapidly evolving field, along with some indicative clinical applications in major neuropathophysiological disorders, are reviewed. Such strategies for biomarker identification will lead the way to future clinical applications even if, currently, EEG biomarkers are in a premature state.

Cortical mechanisms of the symptomatology in major depressive disorder: a resting EEG study

BACKGROUND

Diagnosis and treatment rely on symptom criteria in modern psychiatry. However, the cortical mechanisms of symptomatology in major depressive disorder (MDD) are still not clear. This study examined neural correlates of symptom clusters of MDD by electroencephalography (EEG).

METHODS

Resting state eye-closed EEG signals were recorded in 196 depressive patients. Quantitative EEG (qEEG) of regional power, coherence and power series correlation across delta, theta, alpha and beta frequencies were used to correlate with overall depression severity evaluated by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Further, statistical comparisons between patients with high vs. low qEEG indices (median-split) were undertaken regarding symptom severity of core depression, sleep, activity, psychic anxiety, somatic anxiety, and delusion.

RESULTS

None of the qEEG indices significantly correlated with overall depression severity or differentiated symptom severity of core depression, sleep, activity and psychic anxiety. A higher symptom severity of somatic anxiety was associated with higher regional power over widespread cortical regions and lower strengths at bi-temporal, temporo-parietal and fronto-parietal connections. A higher symptom severity of delusion was associated with higher regional power in the frontal and temporal regions, and lower strengths at inter-hemispheric (frontal, temporal and parietal) and fronto-temporo-parietal connections.

LIMITATIONS

Our EEG recording with sampling rate of 128Hz and 20 electrodes may provide restricted spatial and temporal precision.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that cortical mechanisms play important roles in the symptom manifestation of cognitive distortion (sub-score of delusion) and somatic anxiety in MDD. Our findings further imply that psychic anxiety and somatic anxiety are distinct entities.

The effects of catechol-O-methyl-transferase polymorphism Val158Met on functional connectivity in healthy young females: a resting EEG study

The catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) gene has been linked to a wide spectrum of human phenotypes, including cognition, affective response, pain sensitivity, anxiety and psychosis. This study examined the modulatory effects of COMT Val158Met on neural interactions, indicated by connectivity strengths. Blood samples and resting state eyes-closed EEG signals were collected in 254 healthy young females. The COMT Val158Met polymorphism was decoded into 3 groups: Val/Val, Val/Met and Met/Met. The values of mutual information of 20 frontal-related channel pairs across delta, theta, alpha and beta frequencies were analyzed based on the time-frequency mutual information method. Our one-way ANOVA analyses revealed that the significant connection-frequency pairs were relatively left lateralized (P<0.01) and included F7-T3 and F7-C3 at delta frequency, and F3-F4, F7-T3, F7-C3, F7-P3, F3-C3, F3-F7 and F4-F8 at theta frequency. The F-test at F7-T3 and F7-C3 theta surpassed the statistical threshold of P<0.003 (after Bonferroni correction). For all the above connection-frequency pairs, there was a dose-dependent trend in the connectivity strengths of the alleles as follows: Val/Val>Val/Met>Met/Met. Our analyses complemented previous literature regarding neural modulation by the COMT Val158Met polymorphism. The implication to the pathogenesis in schizophrenia was also discussed. Further studies are needed to clarify whether there is gender difference on this gene-brain interaction.

Uncovering genes for cognitive (dys)function and predisposition for alcoholism spectrum disorders: a review of human brain oscillations as effective endophenotypes

Brain oscillations provide a rich source of potentially useful endophenotypes (intermediate phenotypes) for psychiatric genetics, as they represent important correlates of human information processing and are associated with fundamental processes from perception to cognition. These oscillations are highly heritable, are modulated by genes controlling neurotransmitters in the brain, and provide links to associative and integrative brain functions. These endophenotypes represent traits that are less complex and more proximal to gene function than either diagnostic labels or traditional cognitive measures, providing a powerful strategy in searching for genes in psychiatric disorders. These intermediate phenotypes identify both affected and unaffected members of an affected family, including offspring at risk, providing a more direct connection with underlying biological vulnerability. Our group has utilized heritable neurophysiological features (i.e., brain oscillations) as endophenotypes, making it possible to identify susceptibility genes that may be difficult to detect with diagnosis alone. We have discussed our findings of significant linkage and association between brain oscillations and genes in GABAergic, cholinergic and glutamatergic systems (GABRA2, CHRM2, and GRM8). We have also shown that some oscillatory indices from both resting and active cognitive states have revealed a common subset of genetic foci that are shared with the diagnosis of alcoholism and related disorders. Implications of our findings have been discussed in the context of physiological and pharmacological studies on receptor function. These findings underscore the utility of quantitative neurophysiological endophenotypes in the study of the genetics of brain function and the genetic diathesis underlying complex psychiatric disorders.

Dysconnection topography in schizophrenia revealed with state-space analysis of EEG

Background

The dysconnection hypothesis has been proposed to account for pathophysiological mechanisms underlying schizophrenia. Widespread structural changes suggesting abnormal connectivity in schizophrenia have been imaged. A functional counterpart of the structural maps would be the EEG synchronization maps. However, due to the limits of currently used bivariate methods, functional correlates of dysconnection are limited to the isolated measurements of synchronization between preselected pairs of EEG signals.

Methods/Results

To reveal a whole-head synchronization topography in schizophrenia, we applied a new method of multivariate synchronization analysis called S-estimator to the resting dense-array (128 channels) EEG obtained from 14 patients and 14 controls. This method determines synchronization from the embedding dimension in a state-space domain based on the theoretical consequence of the cooperative behavior of simultaneous time series—the shrinking of the state-space embedding dimension. The S-estimator imaging revealed a specific synchronization landscape in schizophrenia patients. Its main features included bilaterally increased synchronization over temporal brain regions and decreased synchronization over the postcentral/parietal region neighboring the midline. The synchronization topography was stable over the course of several months and correlated with the severity of schizophrenia symptoms. In particular, direct correlations linked positive, negative, and general psychopathological symptoms to the hyper-synchronized temporal clusters over both hemispheres. Along with these correlations, general psychopathological symptoms inversely correlated within the hypo-synchronized postcentral midline region. While being similar to the structural maps of cortical changes in schizophrenia, the S-maps go beyond the topography limits, demonstrating a novel aspect of the abnormalities of functional cooperation: namely, regionally reduced or enhanced connectivity.

Conclusion/Significance

The new method of multivariate synchronization significantly boosts the potential of EEG as an imaging technique compatible with other imaging modalities. Its application to schizophrenia research shows that schizophrenia can be explained within the concept of neural dysconnection across and within large-scale brain networks.