Increased cingulo-orbital connectivity is associated with violent behaviours in schizophrenia.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Schizophrenia is associated with increased risk of violence.
• Few studies have investigated the neurocircuitry of violence in schizophrenia using functional neuroimaging.
• Understanding brain alterations in schizophrenia patients with violent history is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• Identify disrupted resting-state brain activity and functional connectivity in schizophrenia patients with a history of violence.
• Explore the relationship between aberrant neurocircuitry and violent behaviors.
• Investigate the role of specific brain regions in the neurobiology of violence.

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 62 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy controls.
• Voxel-wise analysis of fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) to assess spontaneous brain activity.
• Seed-to-voxel functional connectivity analyses using identified brain regions and correlation with lifetime violent behaviors.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenia patients exhibited reduced fALFF in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus cortex, and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) compared to controls.
• Significantly enhanced functional connectivity was found between the ACC and left OFC in schizophrenia patients.
• Heightened ACC-OFC connectivity predicted the number of reported violent behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Impaired functional connectivity in emotion regulation brain regions is demonstrated in schizophrenia.
• Altered ACC-OFC connectivity is associated with violent antecedents in schizophrenia patients.
• Findings support the role of the OFC in the neurobiology of violence.