Schizophrenia and Effects on Intrinsic Brain Networks, Cortical Thickness and Cognitive Functions
Poster No:
569
Submission Type:
Late-Breaking Abstract Submission
Authors:
Lucius Hong1, Junhong Yu1
Institutions:
1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
First Author:
Co-Author:
Introduction:
Schizophrenia and its associated disorders are classified as psychotic disorders in the DSM-V, characterized by the prevalence of abnormalities in behavior, cognitive impairment, delusions, hallucinations and disorganized speech. Whilst the symptoms of schizophrenia and its associated disorders are intensively recorded and studied, less is understood about the intrinsic features of the brain implicated by the condition and their effects on standard cognitive functions. Hence, we investigated the changes to brain cortical thickness (CT), functional connectivity (FC) associated with schizophrenia as well as their implications on cognitive functions in affected individuals.
Methods:
We used the Centre of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) dataset, comprising 193 clinical and healthy individuals aged 18-66. Participants were subjected to a resting-state magnetic resonance imaging scan and completed various cognitive assessments including the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Using whole-brain vertex-wise analyses and network-based statistics, we identified whole-brain cortical morphological and FC alterations associated with schizophrenia. These schizophrenia-associated alterations were then correlated with various cognitive outcomes.
Results:
Significant reductions in CT was found in 7 regions of the brain. Significant resting-state functional networks associated with schizophrenia were also identified. This included hyperconnectivity between the dorsal and ventral attention networks, and significant reductions in connectivity between the ventral attention network and the frontoparietal, default mode (DMN) and subcortical regions. These CT and FC alterations were significantly correlated to reductions in most cognitive outcomes except for linguistic abilities.
·Fig. 1: Visualization of CT and FC network changes in individuals with schizophrenia
·Fig. 2: Correlation Coefficients of CT and FC network data against cognitive test battery scores
Conclusions:
Our results revealed the specific regions of the brain most implicated by schizophrenia, as well as functional connectomes associated with schizophrenia. Changes in FC features of the brain were mostly predictive of reductions in cognitive function, providing a better understanding of the implications of schizophrenia on cognition through a neurobiological perspective.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 2
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Cortical Anatomy and Brain Mapping
Keywords:
Cognition
Cortex
Morphometrics
Open Data
Schizophrenia
STRUCTURAL MRI
Other - Functional Connectivity
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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[2] American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
[3] Calhoun, V. D. (2009). Functional Brain Networks in schizophrenia: A Review. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.09.017.2009
[4] Harvey, P. D. (2022). Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: An expert group paper on the current state of the art. Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, 29, 100249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scog.2022.100249
[5] Kim, H., Shon (2019). Gray matter microstructural abnormalities and working memory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Investigation, 16(3), 234–243. https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2018.10.14.1
[6] Lynall, M.-E.(2010). Functional connectivity and brain networks in Schizophrenia. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(28), 9477–9487. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0333-10.2010