The insula: Leveraging cellular and systems-level research to better understand its roles in health and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a highly heterogeneous disorder characterized by a multitude of complex and seemingly non-overlapping symptoms. The insular cortex has gained increasing attention in neuroscience and psychiatry due to its involvement in a diverse range of fundamental human experiences and behaviors....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2024-05, Vol.160, p.105643-105643, Article 105643
Main Authors: Kittleson, Andrew R., Woodward, Neil D., Heckers, Stephan, Sheffield, Julia M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cytoarchitecture
Functional connectivity
Insula
Interoception
Neuroimaging
Salience network
Schizophrenia
Sense of self
Subregions
Von economo neurons
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Summary:Schizophrenia is a highly heterogeneous disorder characterized by a multitude of complex and seemingly non-overlapping symptoms. The insular cortex has gained increasing attention in neuroscience and psychiatry due to its involvement in a diverse range of fundamental human experiences and behaviors. This review article provides an overview of the insula’s cellular and anatomical organization, functional and structural connectivity, and functional significance. Focusing on specific insula subregions and using knowledge gained from humans and preclinical studies of insular tracings in non-human primates, we review the literature and discuss the functional roles of each subregion, including in somatosensation, interoception, salience processing, emotional processing, and social cognition. Building from this foundation, we then extend these findings to discuss reported abnormalities of these functions in individuals with schizophrenia, implicating insular involvement in schizophrenia pathology. This review underscores the insula’s vast role in the human experience and how abnormal insula structure and function could result in the wide-ranging symptoms observed in schizophrenia. •Insular cortex is one of the most widely affected brain regions in schizophrenia.•Insula subregions possess diverse histology, structural connections, and functions.•Neuroimaging work implicates the insula in emotion, cognition, and somatosensation.•Schizophrenia symptom profiles may be driven by insular subregional alterations.
ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105643