Journal article
Increased Thalamocortical Connectivity in Schizophrenia Correlates With Sleep Spindle Deficits: Evidence for a Common Pathophysiology
Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Vol.4(8), pp.706-714
08/2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.04.012
PMCID: PMC6688951
PMID: 31262708
Abstract
Converging evidence implicates abnormal thalamocortical interactions in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. This evidence includes consistent findings of increased resting-state functional connectivity of the thalamus with somatosensory and motor cortex during wake and reduced spindle activity during sleep. We hypothesized that these abnormalities would be correlated, reflecting a common mechanism: reduced inhibition of thalamocortical neurons by the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The TRN is the major inhibitory nucleus of the thalamus and is abnormal in schizophrenia. Reduced TRN inhibition would be expected to lead to increased and less filtered thalamic relay of sensory and motor information to the cortex during wake and reduced burst firing necessary for spindle initiation during sleep.
Overnight polysomnography and resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging were performed in 26 outpatients with schizophrenia and 30 demographically matched healthy individuals. We examined the relations of sleep spindle density during stage 2 non–rapid eye movement sleep with connectivity of the thalamus to the cortex during wakeful rest.
As in prior studies, patients with schizophrenia exhibited increased functional connectivity of the thalamus with bilateral somatosensory and motor cortex and reduced sleep spindle density. Spindle density inversely correlated with thalamocortical connectivity, including in somotosensory and motor cortex, regardless of diagnosis.
These findings link two biomarkers of schizophrenia—the sleep spindle density deficit and abnormally increased thalamocortical functional connectivity—and point to deficient TRN inhibition as a plausible mechanism. If TRN-mediated thalamocortical dysfunction increases risk for schizophrenia and contributes to its manifestations, understanding its mechanism could guide the development of targeted interventions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Increased Thalamocortical Connectivity in Schizophrenia Correlates With Sleep Spindle Deficits: Evidence for a Common Pathophysiology
- Creators
- Bengi Baran - Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsFikret Işık Karahanoğlu - Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsDimitrios Mylonas - Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsCharmaine Demanuele - Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsMark Vangel - Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MassachusettsRobert Stickgold - Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsAlan Anticevic - Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, ConnecticutDara S Manoach - Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Vol.4(8), pp.706-714
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.04.012
- PMID
- 31262708
- PMCID
- PMC6688951
- NLM abbreviation
- Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
- ISSN
- 2451-9022
- eISSN
- 2451-9030
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000002, name: National Institutes of Health; DOI: 10.13039/100000050, name: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, award: T32HL007901-17; DOI: 10.13039/501100001711, name: Swiss National Science Foundation, award: P2ELP2_158891; DOI: 10.13039/100000025, name: National Institute of Mental Health, award: R01 MH048832, R01 MH67720, K24MH099421; name: Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, award: 1S10RR023401, 1S10RR019307, 1S10RR023043 [to Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging; DOI: 10.13039/100000097, name: National Center for Research Resources, award: UL1TR001102-01
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/2019
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984065375402771
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