Dysfunctional resting-state connectivities of brain regions with structural deficits in drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
Individuals with adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) are a subgroup of patients who present clinical symptoms between 13 and 18years of age. Little is known about neurodevelopmental abnormalities in this patient population. The present study was to examine possible resting-state dysfunctional connectivity of brain regions with altered gray matter volume in AOS.


METHODS
Gray matter volume was investigated by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. Resting-state functional connectivity analysis was used to examine the correlations between regions with structural deficits and the remaining regions.


RESULTS
Thirty-seven first-episode schizophrenia adolescents and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. Compared to the controls, the patients showed significantly decreased gray matter volumes in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (ps<0.05). With the right STG as seed, significantly reduced connectivities were found within the frontal-temporal networks in the patient group (ps<0.05). With the right MTG as seed, the patient group showed significantly reduced connectivities in the default-mode networks and visual networks (ps<0.05). Compared to significant correlations in the controls (p=0.02), the patients had no observed correlations between functional connectivity of the right STG and gray matter volume of this region. Significant positive correlations were found between functional connectivity of the right STG with the left middle frontal gyrus and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total scores (p=0.048) after controlling the confounding variables.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings show dysfunctional resting-state connectivities of the right STG and MTG with decreased gray matter volume in adolescents with AOS, suggesting that neurodevelopmental abnormalities may be present in AOS.
Mental Health Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Key Laboratory for Mental Health of Hunan Province, Changsha, China; Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.
Yan
Y
Zhang
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Junjie
J
Zheng
UMass Memorial Medical Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School, MA, USA.
Xiaoduo
X
Fan
Mental Health Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Key Laboratory for Mental Health of Hunan Province, Changsha, China.
Xiaofeng
X
Guo
Mental Health Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Key Laboratory for Mental Health of Hunan Province, Changsha, China.
Wenbin
W
Guo
Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.
Ge
G
Yang
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Huafu
H
Chen
Mental Health Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Key Laboratory for Mental Health of Hunan Province, Changsha, China. Electronic address: zhaojingpingcsu@163.com.
Jingping
J
Zhao
Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China. Electronic address: lvx928@126.com.
Luxian
L
Lv
D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012146:Rest; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D010100:Oxygen
Adolescent; Functional connectivity; Magnetic resonance imaging; Schizophrenia; Voxel-based morphometry