Abnormal synchronization of functional and structural networks in schizophrenia
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Abnormal synchronization of functional and structural networks in schizophrenia Jiajia Zhu 1 & Yinfeng Qian 1 & Biao Zhang 1 & Xiaohu Li 1 & Ya Bai 1 & Xiaoshu Li 1 & Yongqiang Yu 1
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Synchronization is believed to play an important role in information processing of the brain. Mounting evidence supports the hypothesis that schizophrenia is related to impaired neural synchrony. However, most previous studies characterize brain synchronization from the perspective of temporal coordination of distributed neural activity, rather than network properties. Our aim was to investigate the network synchronization alterations in schizophrenia using publically available data. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed in 96 schizophrenia patients and 120 healthy controls. The whole-brain functional and structural networks were constructed and analyzed using graph theoretical approaches. Inter-group differences in network synchronization were investigated. Both the binary and weighted functional networks of schizophrenia patients exhibited decreased synchronizability (increased eigenratio) than those of healthy controls. With respect to the structural binary networks, schizophrenia patients showed a trend towards excessive synchronizability (decreased eigenratio). In addition, the excessive synchronizability of the structural binary networks was associated with more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients. Our findings provide novel biological evidence that schizophrenia involves a disruption of neural synchrony from the perspective of network properties. Keywords Schizophrenia . Neural synchrony . Functional magnetic resonance imaging . Diffusion tensor imaging . Graph theory
Introduction With the availability of advanced noninvasive imaging techniques, schizophrenia has been considered as a dysconnection syndrome in which abnormal interactions between brain regions result in cognitive deficits and psychotic symptoms (Fitzsimmons et al. 2013; Narr and Leaver 2015; Uhlhaas 2013; Yu et al. 2012). In parallel, advances in network science and graph theory have provided new opportunities to map various properties (e.g., the spatial and topological organizations) of the brain’s functional and structural connections (Bullmore and Sporns 2009; Bullmore and Bassett 2011; He and Evans 2010; Liao et al. 2017). Combined, new progress has been made towards offering a rich conceptual and analytic framework for the comprehensive study of abnormal brain
* Yongqiang Yu [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 218, Jixi Road, Shushan District, Hefei 230022, China
network wiring and dynamics in schizophrenia. For example, studies of the functional and structural connectome using multiple neuroimaging techniques including structural, functional and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI, fMRI
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