title: Anterior Cingulate Cortico-Hippocampal Dysconnectivity in Unaffected Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients: A Stochastic Dynamic Causal Modeling Study.
abstract: Familial risk plays a significant role in the etiology of schizophrenia (SZ). Many studies using neuroimaging have demonstrated structural and functional alterations in relatives of SZ patients, with significant results found in diverse brain regions involving the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and hippocampus. This study investigated whether unaffected relatives of first episode SZ differ from healthy controls (HCs) in effective connectivity measures among these regions. Forty-six unaffected first-degree relatives of first episode SZ patients-according to the DSM-IV-were studied. Fifty HCs were included for comparison. All subjects underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We used stochastic dynamic causal modeling (sDCM) to estimate the directed connections between the left ACC, right ACC, left caudate, right caudate, left DLPFC, left hippocampus, and right hippocampus. We used Bayesian parameter averaging (BPA) to characterize the differences. The BPA results showed hyperconnectivity from the left ACC to right hippocampus and hypoconnectivity from the right ACC to right hippocampus in SZ relatives compared to HCs. The pattern of anterior cingulate cortico-hippocampal connectivity in SZ relatives may be a familial feature of SZ risk, appearing to reflect familial susceptibility for SZ.
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Yi-Bin
authors: YB
authors: Xi
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Chen
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Long-Biao
authors: LB
authors: Cui
authors: Network Center, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Fan
authors: F
authors: Guo
authors: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Ting-Ting
authors: TT
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Kang
authors: K
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Xi
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Hua-Ning
authors: HN
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Yin
keywords: effective connectivity; first-degree relatives; functional magnetic resonance imaging; schizophrenia; stochastic dynamic causal modeling