Dysconnectivity of the cerebellum and somatomotor network correlates with the severity of alogia in chronic schizophrenia

• Published in: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging 2024-12, Vol.345, p.111883, Article 111883
• Main Authors: Więcławski, Wiktor, Bielski, Krzysztof, Jani, Martin, Binder, Marek, Adamczyk, Przemysław
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aphasia - diagnostic imaging; Aphasia - etiology; Aphasia - pathology; Aphasia - physiopathology; Cerebellum; Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum - physiopathology; Chronic Disease; Female; fMRI; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Negative symptoms; Nerve Net - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnostic imaging; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Somatomotor network
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 1872-7506; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2024.111883

•We investigated somatomotor network (SMN) fMRI resting state functional connectivity.•We found hypoconnectivity of supplementary motor area (SMA) within SMN in schizophrenia.•We found hypoconnectivity of SMA with cerebellum in schizophrenia.•BNSS alogia subscale correlates with cerebellum and SMA connectivity in schizophrenia. Recent fMRI resting-state findings show aberrant functional connectivity within somatomotor network (SMN) in schizophrenia. Moreover, functional connectivity aberrations of the motor system are often reported to be related to the severity of psychotic symptoms. Thus, it is important to validate those findings and confirm their relationship with psychopathology. Therefore, we decided to take an entirely data-driven approach in our fMRI resting-state study of 30 chronic schizophrenia outpatients and 30 matched control subjects. We used independent component analysis (ICA), dual regression, and seed-based connectivity analysis. We found reduced functional connectivity within SMN in schizophrenia patients compared to controls and SMN hypoconnectivity with the cerebellum in schizophrenia patients. The latter was strongly correlated with the severity of alogia, one of the main psychotic symptoms, i.e. poverty of speech and reduction in spontaneous speech,. Our results are consistent with the recent knowledge about the role of the cerebellum in cognitive functioning and its abnormalities in psychiatric disorders, e.g. schizophrenia. In conclusion, the presented results, for the first time clearly showed the involvement of the cerebellum hypoconnectivity with SMN in the persistence and severity of alogia symptoms in schizophrenia.