Abnormal interhemispheric functional cooperation in schizophrenia follows the neurotransmitter profiles

Kongliang He; Qiang Hua; Qianqian Li; Yan Zhang; Xiaoqing Yao; Yinian Yang; Wenqiang Xu; Jinmei Sun; Lu Wang; Anzhen Wang; Gong-Jun Ji; Kai Wang

doi:10.1503/jpn.230037

Abnormal interhemispheric functional cooperation in schizophrenia follows the neurotransmitter profiles

J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2023 Dec 20;48(6):E452-E460. doi: 10.1503/jpn.230037. Print 2023 Nov-Dec.

Authors

Kongliang He^#¹, Qiang Hua^#¹, Qianqian Li^#¹, Yan Zhang¹, Xiaoqing Yao¹, Yinian Yang¹, Wenqiang Xu¹, Jinmei Sun¹, Lu Wang¹, Anzhen Wang¹, Gong-Jun Ji², Kai Wang²

Affiliations

¹ From the Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, Hua, Yao, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, Zhang, Yang, Xu, A. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Hefei Fourth People's Hospital, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Department of Psychology and Sleep Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (Li); the Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China (Hua, Li, Zhang, Yang, Xu, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Neuropsychiatric Disorder and Mental Health, Hefei, China (Hua, Li, Zhang, Yang, Xu, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, China (K. Wang); and the Anhui Institute of Translational Medicine, Hefei, China (K. Wang).
² From the Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, Hua, Yao, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (He, Zhang, Yang, Xu, A. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Hefei Fourth People's Hospital, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei, China (He, A. Wang); the Department of Psychology and Sleep Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China (Li); the Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China (Hua, Li, Zhang, Yang, Xu, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Neuropsychiatric Disorder and Mental Health, Hefei, China (Hua, Li, Zhang, Yang, Xu, Sun, L. Wang, Ji, K. Wang); the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, China (K. Wang); and the Anhui Institute of Translational Medicine, Hefei, China (K. Wang) wangkai1964@126.com jigongjun@163.com.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Interhemispheric cooperation is one of the most prominent functional architectures of the human brain. In patients with schizophrenia, interhemispheric cooperation deficits have been reported using increasingly powerful neurobehavioural and neuroimaging measures. However, these methods rely in part on the assumption of anatomic symmetry between hemispheres. In the present study, we explored interhemispheric cooperation deficits in schizophrenia using a newly developed index, connectivity between functionally homotopic voxels (CFH), which is unbiased by hemispheric asymmetry.

Methods: Patients with schizophrenia and age- and sexmatched healthy controls underwent multimodal MRI, and whole-brain CFH maps were constructed for comparison between groups. We examined the correlations of differing CFH values between the schizophrenia and control groups using various neurotransmitter receptor and transporter densities.

Results: We included 86 patients with schizophrenia and 86 matched controls in our analysis. Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly lower CFH values in the frontal lobes, left postcentral gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus, and significantly greater CFH values in the right caudate nucleus than healthy controls. Moreover, the differing CFH values in patients with schizophrenia were significantly correlated with positive symptom score and illness duration. Functional connectivity within frontal lobes was significantly reduced at the voxel cluster level compared with healthy controls. Finally, the abnormal CFH map of patients with schizophrenia was spatially associated with the densities of the dopamine D₁ and D₂ receptors, fluorodopa, dopamine transporter, serotonin transporter and acetylcholine transporter.

Conclusion: Regional abnormalities in interhemispheric cooperation may contribute to the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. These CFH abnormalities may be associated with dysfunction in neurotransmitter systems strongly implicated in schizophrenia.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping
Caudate Nucleus
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Schizophrenia* / diagnostic imaging