Associations of Cortical Thickness and Cognition in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls
Associations of Cortical Thickness and Cognition in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls
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DOI：
10.1093/schbul/sbr018
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发表时间：
2012-09-01
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Sponheim, Scott R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ehrlich, Stefan;Brauns, Stefan;Sponheim, Scott R.
先前的研究发现精神分裂症患者的认知功能和脑容量之间存在不同的关系。然而，皮质厚度可能比灰质密度或体积估计更能反映细胞结构特征。在这里，我们的目的是比较精神分裂症患者和健康对照组（HC）皮质厚度的区域差异与执行功能、记忆以及言语和空间处理之间的关联。我们获得了 131 名患者和 138 名匹配对照者的磁共振成像和神经心理学数据。自动皮质模式匹配方法允许测试与皮质厚度的关联，皮质厚度估计为灰质/白质边界与软脑膜表面之间的最短距离，在整个皮质表面的数千个点处。两项独立的工作记忆测量结果显示，HC 患者的外侧前额叶皮质厚度与工作记忆存在密切相关，而患者则表现出工作记忆与右颞叶中叶和上颞叶皮质厚度之间的相关性。这项研究为精神分裂症的结构与功能关系被破坏提供了额外的证据。与前额叶低效假说一致，精神分裂症患者可能会利用额叶皮层以外更大的大脑区域补偿网络来回忆和操纵工作记忆中的言语材料。
Previous studies have found varying relationships between cognitive functioning and brain volumes in patients with schizophrenia. However, cortical thickness may more closely reflect cytoarchitectural characteristics than gray matter density or volume estimates. Here, we aimed to compare associations between regional variation in cortical thickness and executive functions, memory, as well as verbal and spatial processing in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls (HCs). We obtained magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychological data for 131 patients and 138 matched controls. Automated cortical pattern matching methods allowed testing for associations with cortical thickness estimated as the shortest distance between the gray/white matter border and the pial surface at thousands of points across the entire cortical surface. Two independent measures of working memory showed robust associations with cortical thickness in lateral prefrontal cortex in HCs, whereas patients exhibited associations between working memory and cortical thickness in the right middle and superior temporal lobe. This study provides additional evidence for a disrupted structure-function relationship in schizophrenia. In line with the prefrontal inefficiency hypothesis, schizophrenia patients may engage a larger compensatory network of brain regions other than frontal cortex to recall and manipulate verbal material in working memory.