Cerebellar abnormalities in first-episode, drug-naive schizophrenia at rest

The cerebellum plays a crucial role in higher cortical functions through a cerebellar-cerebral circuit. However, the specific mechanisms through which the cerebellum contributes to the neurobiology of schizophrenia remain unclear. Forty-nine first-episode, drug-naive patients with schizophrenia and 50 healthy controls underwent structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The MRI data were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), cerebellum homogeneity (CH), and seed-based functional connectivity (FC). Patients with schizophrenia did not have anatomical and CH alterations in the cerebellum compared with healthy controls. However, they exhibited decreased ALFF in the right Crus I and abnormal cerebellar FC with brain regions within the dorsal attention network, default-mode network, and ventral attention network. The findings indicate that cerebellar abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia are mainly in the cerebellar-cerebral connectivities, which may contribute to the neurobiology of schizophrenia.