SU67. Aberrant Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Motor System and Motor Abnormalities in Schizophrenia

摘要

>Background: Motor abnormalities are frequently observed in schizophrenia, providing hints on the outcome of the disorder. Motor signs are intrinsic to the disorder and associated with structural abnormalities in the cerebral motor system. This study investigated whether motor abnormalities were associated with aberrant functional connectivity. >Methods: Resting-state BOLD fMRI was acquired from 46 schizophrenia patients and 44 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and education. Patients were rated with a variety of clinical motor rating scales assessing parkinsonism, catatonia, neurological soft signs, and psychomotor slowing. The CONN toolbox to SPM was used for resting-state fMRI data preprocessing and analyses. We chose bilateral regions of interest (ROI) within the motor system including primary motor cortex (M1), supplemental motor area (SMA), pre-SMA, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), caudate, putamen, pallidum, thalamus, subthalamic nucleus (STN), and cerebellum (refined to motor areas V and VIII). Resting-state functional connectivity was compared between groups and FDR corrected at analysis level. Connectivity values of connections with significant group differences were extracted and correlated with clinical motor ratings derived from principal component analysis of rating scale scores in patients. Four factors were extracted: primary motor, catatonia and dyskinesia, coordination, and spontaneous motor activity. >Results: Patients had reduced functional connectivity between bilateral M1 and cerebellum, bilateral M1 and thalamus, bilateral DLPFC and ACC, ACC and STN, as well as left ACC and right caudate. In contrast, patients had increased functional connectivity between left pre-SMA and right caudate as well as left putamen and right cerebellum. The primary motor factor correlated with connectivity between right caudate and left ACC. The catatonia factor was associated with bilateral thalamocortical connectivity to M1. Spontaneous motor activity correlated with connectivity between left M1 and right cerebellum. >Conclusion: The resting-state connectivity within the motor system in schizophrenia differs from controls in thalamocortico and cortico-cerebellar connections. In addition, aberrant functional connectivity in schizophrenia correlates with the extent of motor abnormalities. Thus, altered functional connectivity in the motor system may contribute to the behavioral changes observed in schizophrenia. The different motor signs seem to have distinct associations with functional connectivity in the motor system.