Functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of adolescents at risk for schizophrenia
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1
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
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2
Duke University, United States
Background: Puberty is a critical period for the maturation of the fronto-limbic and fronto-striate circuits critical for executive function and affective processing. Puberty also coincides with the emergence of the prodromal signs of schizophrenia, possibly indicating an association between these two processes.
Methods: We studied neural maturation of circuits supporting executive attention and affective processing in 22 healthy control (HC) subjects and 23 individuals at genetic risk for schizophrenia (GHR) between the ages of 9 and 18 using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on a 3T GE scanner and electrophysiological recordings. Subjects performed an emotional oddball task, where they identified rare visual targets while ignoring emotional and neutral distractor pictures.
Results: There were no significant group differences in age, gender, ethnicity, education (p<.08) and parental education (p<.06). GHR children had greater early prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia as assessed using the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (p<.001). FMRI Random effects analyses revealed that prefrontal regions, in particular the insular and dorsal prefrontal regions and the anterior cingulate gyrus showed significantly greater activation amplitude and extent in GHR subjects during executive attention (p<.01). Similarly, limbic regions including the amygdala and the ventral prefrontal regions also showed significantly greater activation in GHR subjects. Electrophysiological results indicated significant group differences both in early sensory components, as well as in late cognitive components between the high-risk and control groups.
Conclusions: Cortical information processing inefficiency in fronto-limbic and fronto-striate regions during puberty may be an early neurodevelopmental alteration in children at risk for schizophrenia, and may represent vulnerability markers for illness onset. Longitudinal assessments will further inform about their predictive value for illness onset in high-risk populations.
Conference:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Symposium 9: Cognitive electrophysiology in
neuropsychriatric disorders
Citation:
Belger
A
(2008). Functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of adolescents at risk for schizophrenia.
Conference Abstract:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.040
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Received:
27 Nov 2008;
Published Online:
27 Nov 2008.
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Correspondence:
A. Belger, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States, abelger@med.unc.edu