title: Association between symptoms of psychosis and reduced functional connectivity of auditory cortex.
abstract: We have previously reported altered functional asymmetry of the primary auditory cortex (Heschl's gyrus) of patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and their relatives during auditory processing. In this study, we investigated whether schizophrenia patients have altered intrinsic functional organization of Heschl's gyrus (HG) during rest. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured functional connectivity between bilateral HG and the whole brain in 24 SZ patients, 22 unaffected first-degree relatives and 24 matched healthy controls. SZ patients and relatives showed altered functional asymmetry in HG and altered connectivity between temporal and limbic areas in the auditory network during resting-state in comparison with healthy controls. These changes in functional connectivity correlated with predisposition towards hallucinations in patients and relatives and with acute positive symptoms in patients. The results are in line with the results from task-related and symptom-mapping studies that investigated the neural correlates of positive symptoms, and suggest that individual psychopathology is associated with aberrant intrinsic organization of auditory regions in schizophrenia. This might be evidence that reduced hemispheric lateralization and reduced functional connectivity of the auditory network are trait markers of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Electronic address: Viola.Oertel@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Viola
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oertel-Knöchel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knöchel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matura
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stäblein
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prvulovic
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Univ., Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics & Genomics, Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David E J
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: van de Ven
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012146:Rest
keywords: Heschl's gyrus; Resting-state fMRI; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia spectrum