PREFRONTAL STRUCTURE-FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 这项新研究的目的是通过使用多模式磁共振成像(MRI)技术对精神分裂症患者和对照组进行比较，以阐明前额叶结构异常与执行功能障碍之间的关系。 背景：精神分裂症易感性相关基因可能影响神经发育，导致前额叶结构和功能异常。前额叶皮质约占人类皮质的四分之一，是人类最独特的大脑的一部分。它是大脑最后成熟的部分之一，但通常也是大脑中第一个随着年龄增长而遭受痛苦的部分。前额叶皮质调节着注意力、计划、判断、冲动控制、自我监控和解决问题等执行过程。研究表明，与对照组相比，精神分裂症患者及其健康亲属的前额叶灰质减少，这表明这是遗传因素(Cannon等人，1998年)。此外，执行功能问题与精神分裂症的素质有相当强的相关性(Snitz等人，2006年)，前额叶大脑活动减少也是精神分裂症的可靠相关性(Snitz等人，2005年)。到目前为止，大多数研究都是孤立地分析结构和功能数据。本研究的目的是检验精神分裂症患者、精神分裂症患者的一级亲缘关系和对照组的前额叶皮质结构异常与大胆反应之间的关系。我们假设，前额叶结构或血流动力学反应异常的精神分裂症患者在互补区域也会有类似的区域异常。在精神分裂症患者的一级生物亲属中，结构和大胆反应之间也会观察到类似的地区性关联，这表明这些异常与精神分裂症的素质有关。在对照组中，结构和血流动力学反应的协变性将不那么强健。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The purpose of this novel study is to elucidate the relationship between abnormalities in prefrontal structure and impairments in executive functioning by conducting a study of schizophrenia patients compared to controls using multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Background: Genes associated with vulnerability to schizophrenia may affect neurodevelopment and result in abnormalities in prefrontal structure and function. The prefrontal cortex occupies approximately one quarter of the human cortex and is part of the brain that is most unique to humans. It is the one of the last parts of the brain to mature, but is typically also the first part of the brain to suffer with age. The prefrontal cortex regulates executive processes such as attention, planning, judgment, impulse control, self-monitoring, and problem solving. Studies have demonstrated reduced prefrontal gray matter in schizophrenia patients and their healthy relatives compared to controls suggesting a genetic component (Cannon et al., 1998). In addition, problems in executive functioning are a fairly robust correlate of the schizophrenia diathesis (Snitz et al., 2006) and reduced prefrontal brain activity is also a reliable correlate of schizophrenia (Snitz et al., 2005). To date, most studies have analyzed structural and functional data in isolation. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between abnormalities in prefrontal cortical structure and BOLD response in schizophrenia patients, first-degree biological relatives of schizophrenia patients, and control subjects. We hypothesize that schizophrenia patients with prefrontal abnormalities in either structure or hemodynamic responses will have a similar regional abnormality in the complementary domain. Similar regional associations between structure and BOLD response will be observed in first-degree biological relatives of schizophrenia patients suggesting the abnormalities are related to the diathesis for schizophrenia. Covariation of structure and hemodynamic response will be less robust in control subjects.