title: Altered resting-state functional connectivity of the cerebellum in schizophrenia.
abstract: Structural and functional abnormalities of the cerebellum in schizophrenia have been reported. Most previous studies investigating resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) have relied on a priori restrictions on seed regions or specific networks, which may bias observations. In this study, we aimed to elicit the connectivity alterations of the cerebellum in schizophrenia in a hypothesis-free approach. Ninety-five schizophrenia patients and 93 sex- and age-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A voxel-wise data-driven method, resting-state functional connectivity density (rsFCD), was used to investigate cerebellar connectivity changes in schizophrenia patients. Regions with altered rsFCD were chosen as seeds to perform seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analyses. We found that schizophrenia patients exhibited decreased rsFCD in the right hemispheric VI; moreover, this cerebellar region showed increased rsFC with the prefrontal cortex and subcortical nuclei and decreased rsFC with the visual cortex and sensorimotor cortex. In addition, some rsFC changes were associated with positive symptoms. These findings suggest that abnormalities of the cerebellar hub and cerebellar-subcortical-cortical loop may be the underlying mechanisms of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, No. 154, Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300052, China.|Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325000, China.|Tianjin Mental Health Center, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin, 300222, China.|Tianjin Anning Hospital, Tianjin, 300300, China.
authors.forename: Chuanjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Mental Health Center, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin, 300222, China.
authors.forename: Chunli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Mental Health Center, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin, 300222, China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Mental Health Center, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin, 300222, China.
authors.forename: Xinyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Anning Hospital, Tianjin, 300300, China.
authors.forename: Qingying
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Anning Hospital, Tianjin, 300300, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, No. 154, Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300052, China. zhujiajiagraduate@163.com.|Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China. zhujiajiagraduate@163.com.
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D012146:Rest; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Cerebellum; Functional connectivity; Functional connectivity density; Resting-state fMRI; Schizophrenia