Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symptoms (NS). Although one of the most updated hypotheses indicates a relationship between NS and impaired motivation, only a few studies have investigated abnormalities of motivational circuits in subjects with deficit schizophrenia (DS). Our aim was to investigate structural connectivity within motivational circuits in DS. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from 46 subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ) and 35 healthy controls (HCs). SCZ were classified as DS (n = 9) and non-deficit (NDS) (n = 37) using the Schedule for Deficit Syndrome. The connectivity index (CI) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA) of the connections between selected brain areas involved in motivational circuits were examined. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, showed increased CI between the right amygdala and dorsal anterior insular cortex and increased FA of the pathway connecting the left nucleus accumbens with the posterior insular cortex. Our results support previous evidence of distinct neurobiological alterations underlying different clinical subtypes of schizophrenia. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, may present an altered pruning process (consistent with the hyperconnectivity) in cerebral regions involved in updating the stimulus value to guide goal-directed behavior.
Keywords: RDoC; deficit syndrome; motivation circuits; negative symptoms; positive valence system; salience system; schizophrenia.