1Psychiatry Research Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing 100096, China
2Laboratory for Functional Connectome and Development, Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Magnetic Resonance
Imaging Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
3Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit, The 306th Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100091, China
4Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
5Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY 10022, USA
6Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA

Abstract 

People with schizophrenia exhibit impaired social cognitive functions, particularly emotion regulation. Abnormal activations of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) during emotional tasks have been demonstrated in schizophrenia, suggesting its important role in emotion processing in patients. We used the resting-state functional connectivity approach, setting a functionally relevant region, the vMPFC, as a seed region to examine the intrinsic functional interactions and communication between the vMPFC and other
brain regions in schizophrenic patients. We found hypo-connectivity between the vMPFC and the medial frontal cortex, right middle temporal lobe (MTL), right hippocampus, parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and amygdala. Further, there was a decreased strength of the negative connectivity (or anticorrelation) between the vMPFC and the bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and pre-supplementary motor areas. Among these connectivity alterations, reduced vMPFC–DLPFC connectivity was positively correlated with positive symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, while vMPFC–right MTL/PHC/amygdalafunctional connectivity was positively correlated with the performance of emotional regulation in patients. These findings imply that communication and coordination throughout the brain networks are disrupted
in schizophrenia. The emotional correlates of vMPFC connectivity suggest a role of the hypo-connectivity between these regions in the neuropathology of abnormal social cognition in chronic schizophrenia.

Keywords

Schizophrenia; emotion regulation; ventral medial prefrontal cortex; functional connectivity; resting state; functional MRI

[SpringerLink]