Electrophysiological evidence for abnormal glutamate-GABA association following psychosis onset

• Published in: Translational psychiatry 2018-10, Vol.8 (1), p.211-10, Article 211
• Main Authors: Koshiyama, Daisuke, Kirihara, Kenji, Tada, Mariko, Nagai, Tatsuya, Fujioka, Mao, Ichikawa, Eriko, Ohta, Kazusa, Tani, Motoko, Tsuchiya, Maiko, Kanehara, Akiko, Morita, Kentaro, Sawada, Kingo, Matsuoka, Jun, Satomura, Yoshihiro, Koike, Shinsuke, Suga, Motomu, Araki, Tsuyoshi, Kasai, Kiyoto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/443; 692/699/476/1799; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurosciences; Pharmacotherapy; Psychiatry; Psychosis; Schizophrenia
• ISSN: 2158-3188; 2158-3188
• DOI: 10.1038/s41398-018-0261-0

Previous studies have shown glutamatergic dysfunction and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic dysfunction in schizophrenia. Animal studies suggest that N-methyl- d -aspartate receptor (NMDAR) dysfunction and GABA-ergic dysfunction interact with each other and lead to alterations in excitatory/inhibitory balance. The NMDAR and GABAergic-interneuron functions may be indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) and auditory steady-state gamma-band response (ASSR), respectively. However, no previous studies have tested the hypothesis of an abnormal association between MMN and gamma-band ASSR in the same patients to identify the in vivo evidence of NMDAR-GABA association during the early stages of psychosis. Participants were individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ; N  = 21), ultra-high risk (UHR; N  = 27), and healthy controls (HCs; N  = 24). The MMN amplitude was significantly impaired in ROSZ ( p  = 0.001, d   =  1.20) and UHR ( p  = 0.003, d   =  1.01) compared with HCs. The intertrial phase coherence (ITC) index of gamma-band ASSR was significantly reduced in ROSZ compared with HCs ( p