Data_Sheet_1_Cerebellar correlates of social dysfunction among individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis.docx

IntroductionSocial deficits are a significant feature among both individuals with psychosis and those at clinical high-risk (CHR) for developing psychosis. Critically, the psychosis risk syndrome emerges in adolescence and young adulthood, when social skill development is being fine-tuned. Yet, the underlying pathophysiology of social deficits in individuals at CHR for psychosis remains unclear. Literature suggests the cerebellum plays a critical role in social functioning. Cerebellar dysfunction in psychosis and CHR individuals is well-established, yet limited research has examined links between the cerebellum and social functioning deficits in this critical population.
MethodIn the current study, 68 individuals at CHR for developing psychosis and 66 healthy controls (HCs) completed social processing measures (examining social interaction, social cognition, and global social functioning) and resting-state MRI scans. Seed-to-voxel resting-state connectivity analyses were employed to examine the relationship between social deficits and lobular cerebellar network connectivity.
ResultsAnalyses indicated that within the CHR group, each social domain variable was linked to reduced connectivity between social cerebellar subregions (e.g., Crus II, lobules VIIIa and VIIIb) and cortical regions (e.g., frontal pole and frontal gyrus), but a control cerebellar subregion (e.g., lobule X) and was unrelated to these social variables.
DiscussionThese results indicate an association between several cerebellar lobules and specific deficits in social processing. The cerebellum, therefore, may be particularly salient to the social domain and future research is need to examine the role of the cerebellum in psychosis.

引言
社交缺陷是精神病性障碍患者与存在精神病性障碍临床高危（clinical high-risk, CHR）状态人群的显著特征之一。尤为关键的是，精神病性风险综合征多始发于青少年期与青年成年期——这一阶段正是社交技能发展处于精细化塑造的关键时期。然而，目前针对CHR人群社交缺陷的潜在病理生理学机制仍未阐明。已有研究表明，小脑（cerebellum）在社交功能中发挥关键作用。现有证据已证实，精神病性障碍患者与CHR个体均存在小脑功能异常，但针对该关键人群中小脑与社交功能缺陷之间关联的研究仍较为有限。

方法
本研究共纳入68名存在精神病性障碍临床高危状态的个体以及66名健康对照（healthy controls, HCs），所有受试者均完成了社交加工任务（涵盖社交互动、社会认知以及整体社交功能评估）与静息态功能磁共振成像（resting-state MRI）扫描。本研究采用种子点-体素静息态功能连接分析（seed-to-voxel resting-state connectivity analyses）方法，探究社交缺陷与小脑小叶网络功能连接之间的关联。

结果
分析结果显示，在CHR组中，各社交维度变量均与社交相关小脑亚区（例如Crus II、VIIIa小叶与VIIIb小叶）与皮层区域（例如额极与额回）之间的连接减弱显著相关；而对照小脑亚区（例如小脑X小叶，lobule X）的连接强度则与上述社交维度变量无明显关联。

讨论
本研究结果表明，多个小脑小叶与社交加工的特定缺陷存在关联。由此可见，小脑或与社交功能领域密切相关，未来需开展进一步研究以明确小脑在精神病性障碍中的作用。