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Affected Anatomical Rich Club and Structural-Functional Coupling in Young Offspring of Schizophrenia and Bipolar

Guusje Collin1, Lianne H Scholtens1, René S Kahn1

  • 1Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Biological Psychiatry
|July 24, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Children with a parent diagnosed with schizophrenia show disrupted brain connectivity, specifically in the rich club system. This suggests a brain wiring difference linked to familial risk for psychosis.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are linked to brain network organization disruptions.
  • Children of patients with SZ or BD are at increased risk due to genetic predisposition.
  • This study investigates brain connectome organization in high-risk youth.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine brain network connectivity in children at familial high risk for psychosis.
  • To compare connectome organization in offspring of SZ patients versus BD patients.
  • To identify potential neurobiological markers of psychosis risk.

Main Methods:

  • Diffusion-weighted and resting-state functional MRI scans were acquired from 127 nonpsychotic offspring (ages 8-18) and 39 controls.
  • Participants included offspring of SZ patients (n=28), offspring of BD patients (n=60).
  • Graph theoretical analysis was used to reconstruct and examine anatomical and functional brain networks.

Main Results:

  • Schizophrenia (SZ) offspring exhibited reduced anatomical connectivity in the brain's central rich club (RC) system compared to controls and BD offspring.
  • This RC connectivity deficit in SZ offspring correlated with increased functional connectome modularity.
  • Both SZ and BD offspring showed increased coupling between structural and functional connectivity for long-distance connections.

Conclusions:

  • Nonpsychotic young offspring of SZ patients display reduced anatomical RC connectivity, indicating a connectome signature of familial psychosis risk.
  • The absence of RC deficits in BD offspring suggests distinct genetic influences of SZ and BD on connectome development.
  • These findings highlight the impact of familial risk on brain wiring in youth.
Abstract

Keywords:
Bipolar disorderConnectomeFamilial high-riskOffspringRich clubSchizophrenia

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