Increased random exploration in schizophrenia is associated with inflammation.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Immunology

Background:

• Schizophrenia (SZ) impairs goal-directed behavior, specifically the exploration-exploitation trade-off.
• Chronic low-grade inflammation is increasingly linked to SZ, but its behavioral correlates are understudied.
• Understanding this link is crucial for novel therapeutic targets.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate exploration-exploitation behaviors in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) compared to healthy controls (HC).
• To examine the relationship between psychopathological symptoms and specific exploratory behaviors.
• To explore the association between inflammatory markers and behavioral patterns in SZ.

Main Methods:

• A three-armed bandit task was used to assess exploration and exploitation in 45 SZ patients and 19 HC.
• Goal-unrelated (random) and goal-related (directed) exploration were differentiated.
• Blood samples were analyzed for inflammatory proteins, including hsCRP, and correlated with task performance.

Main Results:

• SZ patients demonstrated reduced task performance compared to HC, characterized by increased random exploration and decreased exploitation.
• Random exploration in SZ patients was significantly associated with symptoms of disorganization.
• Patients with SZ exhibited a pro-inflammatory blood profile, with hsCRP positively correlating with random exploration.

Conclusions:

• Low-grade inflammation in SZ is linked to maladaptive random exploration, serving as a potential behavioral marker for disorganization.
• High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) may indicate the severity of these exploratory deficits.
• hsCRP could represent a potential therapeutic target for addressing aberrant exploratory behaviors in schizophrenia.