Dynamic Alterations of Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients With Drug-Naïve First-Episode Early Onset Schizophrenia

Qiang Li; Xiaohua Cao; Sha Liu; Zexuan Li; Yanfang Wang; Long Cheng; Chengxiang Yang; Yong Xu

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00901

Dynamic Alterations of Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients With Drug-Naïve First-Episode Early Onset Schizophrenia

Front Neurosci. 2020 Oct 6:14:901. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00901. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Qiang Li^{1

2}, Xiaohua Cao², Sha Liu^{1

2}, Zexuan Li^{1

2}, Yanfang Wang², Long Cheng², Chengxiang Yang^{1

2}, Yong Xu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Shanxi Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence Assisted Diagnosis and Treatment for Mental Disorder, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
² Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital/First Clinical Medical College of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
³ Department of Mental Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.

Abstract

Abnormalities in static neural activity have been widely reported in early onset schizophrenia (EOS). However, dynamic brain activity alterations over time in EOS are unclear. Here, we investigated whether temporal dynamic changes in spontaneous neural activity are influenced by EOS. A total of 78 drug-naïve first-episode patients with EOS and 90 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. Dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dALFF) was performed to examine the abnormal time-varying local neural activity in EOS. Furthermore, we investigated the relationships between abnormalities in dALFF variability and clinical characteristics in EOS patients. Compared to HCs, EOS patients showed significantly decreased dALFF variability in the bilateral precuneus, right superior marginal gyrus, right post-central gyrus and increased dALFF in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Moreover, increased dALFF variability in MTG was negatively associated with negative symptoms in EOS. Our findings reveal increased dynamic local neural activity in higher order networks of the cortex, suggesting that enhanced spontaneous brain activity may be a predominant neural marker for brain maturation. In addition, decreased dALFF variability in the default mode network (DMN) and limbic system may reflect unusually dynamic neural activity. This dysfunctional brain activity could distinguish between patients and HCs and deepen our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of EOS.

Keywords: default mode network; dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations; early onset schizophrenia; middle temporal gyrus; variability.