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Schizophrenia, a brain disorder that produces hallucinations, delusions, and cognitive impairments, usually strikes in adolescence or early adulthood. Some signs suggest that someone has a high risk of developing the disease, but there is no way to definitively diagnose it before the first psychotic episode.
MIT neuroscientists collaborating with researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Health Center. The hospital and the Shanghai Mental Health Center have now identified a pattern of brain activity that correlates with the development of schizophrenia, which they believe could serve as a marker for diagnosing the disease earlier.
"You can think of this scheme as a risk. postman. If we use these types of brain measurements, we may be able to predict a little better that will eventually develop a psychosis, which could also help tailor interventions ", [GuildoCollinchercheurinvitéauMcGovernInstituteofCerveauduMIT(1965)] Research and lead author of the article [19659003] The study was conducted at the Shanghai Mental Health Center. Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, a visiting researcher at the McGovern Institute and a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, is one of the study's lead researchers, alongside Jijun Wang of the Mental Health Center of Northeastern University. Shanghai, William Stone of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. , the late Larry Seidman of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Martha Shenton of Brigham and Women's Hospital
. Abnormal Connections
Before experiencing a psychotic episode characterized by sudden changes in behavior and loss of contact with reality, patients may experience milder symptoms such as thought disorders. This type of thinking can lead to behaviors such as jumping from one topic to another at random or giving answers unrelated to the original question.
Previous studies have shown that about 25% of people with these early symptoms develop schizophrenia. .
The research team conducted the study at the Shanghai Mental Health Center because the large number of patients who come to the hospital each year gives them a fairly large sample of people at high risk of developing schizophrenia.
The researchers followed 158 people. aged 13 to 34 years who were identified as high risk because they had already had early symptoms. The team also included 93 control subjects, who had no risk factors. At the start of the study, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure a type of brain activity involving "idle state networks."
Resting state networks consist of regions of the brain that connect and communicate preferentially. when the brain does not perform any particular cognitive task.
"We wanted to examine the intrinsic functional architecture of the brain to see if we could detect early connectivity or aberrant brain networks in individuals in a high-risk clinical situation. phase of the disease ",
states Whitfield-Gabrieli.
One year after the initial examinations, 23 of the high-risk patients had a psychotic episode and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. In the scans of these patients, performed prior to diagnosis, the researchers found a distinct pattern of activity, different from that of healthy controls and at-risk individuals who did not develop psychosis.
For example, in most cases, a part of the brain known as the superior temporal gyrus involved in auditory processing is strongly connected to the brain regions involved in sensory perception and motor control.
However, in patients who developed psychosis, the superior temporal gyrus became more connected to the limbic regions involved in the treatment of emotions. This could help explain why patients with schizophrenia usually suffer from auditory hallucinations, say the researchers.
Meanwhile, high-risk subjects who did not develop psychosis had virtually identical network connectivity to healthy subjects.
Early Intervention [19659008] This type of separate brain activity might be helpful as an early indicator of schizophrenia, all the more so as it is possible to have it. observe in even younger patients. Researchers are currently conducting similar studies in younger at-risk populations, including children with a family history of schizophrenia.
"This really shows how we can translate this clinically because we can enter earlier and earlier in the world. identify aberrant networks in the hope that we can do interventions sooner, or even prevent psychiatric disorders, "
Whitfield-Gabrieli says.
She and her colleagues are now testing early interventions to fight the symptoms of schizophrenia. including cognitive-behavioral therapy and neuronal return. The neural feedback approach involves training patients to use mindfulness meditation to reduce activity in the superior temporal gyrus, which tends to increase before and during auditory hallucinations.
The researchers also plan to continue to follow patients in the current study. We are now badyzing some additional data on the white matter connections in the brains of these patients to determine if these connections could generate additional differences that could also serve as early indicators of the disease.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Collin has received a grant from the European Commission for a Marie Curie Global Research Fellowship.
Guusje Collin, Larry J. Seidman, Matcheri S. Keshavan, William S. Stone, Zhenghan Qi, Tianhong Zhang, Yingying Tang, Li Huijun, Huijun Li, Sheeba Arnold Stationery, Margaret A. Niznikiewicz, Robert W. McCarley, Martha E. Shenton, Jijun Wang and Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
A Connectome Functional Organization Predicts Conversion to Psychosis in Young High-Risk Clinics of the SHARP Program
Molecular Psychiatry (2018)Author : Anne Trafton. Reprinted with the permission of MIT News. Image: News from MIT
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