Functional Connectivity Between Sensory-Motor Subnetworks Reflects the Duration of Untreated Psychosis and Predicts Treatment Outcome of First-Episode Drug-Naïve Schizophrenia

Yiwen Zhang; Lihua Xu; Yang Hu; Jinfeng Wu; Chunbo Li; Jijun Wang; Zhi Yang

doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.04.002

Functional Connectivity Between Sensory-Motor Subnetworks Reflects the Duration of Untreated Psychosis and Predicts Treatment Outcome of First-Episode Drug-Naïve Schizophrenia

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2019 Aug;4(8):697-705. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.04.002. Epub 2019 Apr 15.

Authors

Yiwen Zhang¹, Lihua Xu², Yang Hu¹, Jinfeng Wu³, Chunbo Li⁴, Jijun Wang⁵, Zhi Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Psychological Health and Imaging, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: jijunwang27@163.com.
⁶ Laboratory of Psychological Health and Imaging, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: yangz@smhc.org.cn.

PMID: 31171498
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.04.002

Abstract

Background: Somatic symptoms and motor abnormalities have been consistently reported as typical symptoms of schizophrenia, but evidence linking impaired functional connectivity among the primary sensory-motor network and its associations to schizophrenia is largely lacking. The present study aims to examine abnormal functional connectivity in the sensory-motor network in schizophrenia and its associations with the duration of untreated psychosis and medication treatment effects. We hypothesize that patients with schizophrenia suffer from disrupted functional connectivity between the sensory-motor subnetworks. The degree of impairment in the connectivity could reflect the duration of untreated psychosis and predict outcomes of medication treatment.

Methods: At baseline, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 60 first-episode patients with drug-naïve schizophrenia (36 were female) and 60 matching normal control subjects (31 were female). After 2 months, 23 patients who received medication treatment and 32 normal control subjects were rescanned. Functional connectivity among subnetworks in the sensory-motor system was compared between the groups and correlated with the duration of untreated psychosis and the treatment outcome.

Results: Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly disrupted functional connectivity in the sensory-motor network. The degree of impairment reflected the duration of untreated psychosis and motor-related symptoms. It further predicted the improvement of positive scores after medication.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that functional connectivity in the sensory-motor network could indicate the severity of neural impairment in schizophrenia, and it deserves more attention in the search for neuroimaging markers for evaluating neural impairment and prognosis.

Keywords: Duration of untreated psychosis; Functional connectivity; Schizophrenia; Sensory-motor; Treatment outcome; fMRI.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Brain Mapping
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neural Pathways / physiopathology
Psychotic Disorders / complications
Psychotic Disorders / diagnostic imaging
Psychotic Disorders / physiopathology*
Schizophrenia / complications
Schizophrenia / diagnostic imaging
Schizophrenia / physiopathology*
Sensorimotor Cortex / physiopathology*
Young Adult