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Diminished language lateralization in schizophrenia corresponds to impaired inter-hemispheric functional connectivity
Maya Bleich-Cohen1, Haggai Sharon, Ronit Weizman
1Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Schizophrenia Research
|November 26, 2011
Summary
Reduced language asymmetry in the brain's left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is an early marker for schizophrenia, not OCD. This brain abnormality is linked to decreased connectivity between brain hemispheres and symptom severity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- Decreased language asymmetry in the brain is a consistent finding in schizophrenia, appearing even in early stages.
- The specificity of this biomarker to schizophrenia and its underlying mechanisms, such as altered right hemisphere activation, require further investigation.
- Understanding inter-hemispheric communication is crucial for elucidating brain anomalies in schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of inter-hemispheric relations in diminished language asymmetry in schizophrenia.
- To examine functional connectivity within the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in schizophrenia.
- To determine the specificity of these findings by comparing schizophrenia patients to healthy controls and patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed during an auditory verb generation task.
- Brain asymmetry was assessed by language-related activation in the IFG (BA44/45).
- Inter-hemispheric functional connectivity was evaluated using the IFG as a seed region.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibited reduced language asymmetry in the IFG compared to healthy controls and OCD patients.
- Diminished functional connectivity between the left and right IFG was observed in schizophrenia patients.
- Reduced inter-hemispheric functional connectivity in the IFG correlated with increased negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
Conclusions:
- Diminished language-related asymmetry in the IFG serves as an early, disorder-specific neural marker for schizophrenia.
- The findings suggest that reduced inter-hemispheric functional connectivity and large-scale brain disorganization play a role in schizophrenia pathophysiology.
- These functional deficits may stem from structural abnormalities, potentially involving the corpus callosum, leading to hemispheric dysconnection.
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