Poster No:
486
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Tzuhan Tseng1, Ching-Lun Tsai2, Hsien-Yuan Lane3, Wei-Fen Ma4, Cheng-Hao Tu5
Institutions:
1School of Chinese Medicine, China medical university, Taichung, Taiwan, 2Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, 3Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 4School of Nursing, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, 5Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
First Author:
Tzuhan Tseng
School of Chinese Medicine, China medical university
Taichung, Taiwan
Co-Author(s):
Ching-Lun Tsai
Department of Public Health, China Medical University
Taichung, Taiwan
Hsien-Yuan Lane
Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University Hospital
Taichung, Taiwan
Wei-Fen Ma
School of Nursing, China Medical University
Taichung, Taiwan
Cheng-Hao Tu
Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, China Medical University
Taichung, Taiwan
Introduction:
Clinically, schizophrenia has a strong association with imbalances in emotional control that 38.3% of patients diagnosed with anxiety disorders and related conditions (Achim et al., 2011; Foussias et al., 2015). Previous study indicated that the emotional deficits in schizophrenia stem from disturbances in the neural networks encompassing the amygdala (Friston, 1998). Thus, functional dysconnectivity of the amygdala networks may serve as a pivotal etiological factor of anxiety in schizophrenia. Furthermore, it has been observed that different levels of anxiety were correlated with distinct patterns of functional connectivity (FC) strength between the right amygdala and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (Kim et al., 2011). Thus, we hypothesized that patients with schizophrenia and prodromal participants may have abnormal resting-state FC in the right amygdala networks when compared with healthy controls, and dysfunctional connectivity of right amygdala may be associated with different levels of anxiety.
Methods:
Eighty-six Participants (26 schizophrenia patients, 25 prodromal participants, and 35 healthy controls) were included in this study. The anxiety levels of the participants were assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in Chinese Mandarin. Participants with trait scores exceeding 60 was considered as high anxiety level. Each participant underwent a whole-brain anatomical scan and 200 continuous whole-brain resting-state fMRI scans (2.5 seconds per scan). The images were preprocessed using Data Processing Assistant for Resting-state fMRI (DPARSF). The seed region of right amygdala was placed at MNI coordinates x=22, y=-6, and z=-18 as a 3mm radius spheres. The averaged time-activity series were extracted from the seed region, and FC maps (r-to-z value converted) of seed region were generated. The statistical analysis for standardized FC maps were conducted using SPM12. The flexible factorial design was utilized with group and anxiety factor as between-subject factors. The changes were deemed as significant if the family-wise error rate corrected cluster p < 0.05 (the cluster forming threshold was in uncorrected voxel p < 0.005).
Results:
For the group effect, a significant increased FC between the amygdala and the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) has been found in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy controls, whereas prodromal subjects revealed FC values between them. For the anxiety effect, a significant increased FC has been found in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) between subjects with high and low anxiety , in both prodromal subjects and healthy controls. The high anxiety subjects in prodromal and healthy groups revealed positive FC in vlPFC, while low anxiety subjects revealed negative FC in vlPFC. Moreover, high anxiety subjects exhibited a positive FC between amygdala and precuneus in schizophrenia group, whereas negative FC in precuneus were observed in both prodromal and healthy groups. Notably, the prodromal group revealed FC value between schizophrenia and healthy groups.
Conclusions:
In the current study, we found altered FCs in MFG and precuneus in both schizophrenia patients and prodromal subjects, which may associate with the progression from normal state to illness onset. Moreover, altered FC have also been found in the vlPFC between different anxiety levels in prodromal subjects and healthy controls. Considering the precuneus and vlPFC were involved in emotional control, the FC changes between the right amygdala and these emotion-modulating regions highlight the intricate relationship between anxiety and pathophysiological changes in individuals with schizophrenia and those in the prodromal stage. Future researches are needed to include longitudinal studies to track FC changes in amygdala over time, especially in high-anxiety individuals transitioning from the prodromal stage to diagnosed schizophrenia.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotion and Motivation Other 2
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Task-Independent and Resting-State Analysis
Keywords:
Anxiety
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Limbic Systems
Psychiatric
Schizophrenia
Other - prodromal schizophrenia
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Achim, A. M.(2011). How prevalent are anxiety disorders in schizophrenia? A meta-analysis and critical review on a significant association. Schizophrenia bulletin, 37(4), 811-821. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp148.
Foussias, G. (2015).Dissecting negative symptoms in schizophrenia: opportunities for translation into new treatments. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 29(2), 116-126.doi:10.1177/0269881114562092.
Friston K. J. (1998). The disconnection hypothesis. Schizophrenia research, 30(2), 115–125. https://doi-org.autorpa.cmu.edu.tw:8443/10.1016/s0920-9964(97)00140-0
Kim, M. J.(2011). Anxiety dissociates dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity with the amygdala at rest. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 21(7), 1667-1673. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhq237.