Thalamic Pathology in Schizophrenia
Thalamic Pathology in Schizophrenia
复制标题
DOI：
10.1007/7854_2010_55
复制
发表时间：
2010-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Csernansky, John
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cronenwett, Will J.;Csernansky, John
当信息在大脑中从一个区域传递到另一个区域时，丘脑在协调信息方面起着关键作用。这种信息流的中断可能会引起精神分裂症的一些主要症状。为了支持这一假说，当疾病（如中风）选择性地损害丘脑而不损害大脑其他部分时，就会出现类似精神分裂症的综合征。来自许多来源的证据表明，精神分裂症与丘脑功能障碍有关。在死后的研究中，丘脑的几个亚区域，包括背内侧核和枕，已经被证明在精神分裂症中有较少的神经元。神经化学紊乱也被看到，在谷氨酸和多巴胺系统的变化;丘脑谷氨酸受体的表达在精神分裂症改变，多巴胺似乎是升高的丘脑亚区，而证据存在的多巴胺和其他神经递质之间的不平衡。使用磁共振成像的体内研究表明，精神分裂症患者的丘脑体积较小，以及形状变形，这表明丘脑区域与负责执行功能和感觉整合的大脑部分最紧密相连。这些变化似乎与临床症状相关。丘脑是从丘脑核团延伸到皮质的几个平行、重叠网络的起点。有证据表明，这些网络的丘脑节点的变化与该链沿着其他点的变化相呼应;这表明精神分裂症可能是一种丘脑皮质神经网络受损的疾病。该模型将病理分布在整个网络中，但也将注意力集中在丘脑作为一个关键结构上，特别是因为它在协调神经网络内部和之间的信息流方面的作用。
The thalamus plays a critical role in the coordination of information as it passes from region to region within the brain. A disruption of that information flow may give rise to some of the cardinal symptoms of schizophrenia. In support of this hypothesis, schizophrenia-like syndromes emerge when illnesses, such as stroke, selectively damage the thalamus while sparing the rest of the brain.Evidence from many sources has implicated thalamic dysfunction in schizophrenia. In postmortem studies, several subregions of the thalamus, including the mediodorsal nucleus and the pulvinar, have been shown to have fewer neurons in schizophrenia. Neurochemical disturbances are also seen, with changes in both the glutamate and dopamine systems; thalamic glutamate receptor expression is altered in schizophrenia, and dopamine appears to be elevated in thalamic sub-regions, while evidence exists of an imbalance between dopamine and other neurotransmitters. In vivo studies using magnetic resonance imaging have demonstrated smaller thalamic volumes in schizophrenia, as well as shape deformations suggesting changes in those thalamic regions that are most densely connected to the portions of the brain responsible for executive function and sensory integration. These changes seem to be correlated with clinical symptoms.The thalamus is a starting point for several parallel, overlapping networks that extend from thalamic nuclei to the cortex. Evidence is emerging that changes in the thalamic nodes of these networks are echoed by changes at other points along the chain; this suggests that schizophrenia might be a disease of disrupted thalamocortical neural networks. This model distributes the pathology throughout the network, but also concentrates attention on the thalamus as a critical structure, especially because of its role in coordinating the flow of information within and between neural networks.