Spoecificity and effects of treatment on SE modulation in schizophrenia

We assessed SE modulation of EEG during a P300 task in 79 schizophrenia patients (of them, 31 first episodes (FE)), 29 bipolar patients and 48 healthy controls. In a subsample, structural network connectivity parameters were calculated using diffusion tensor imaging. Significant SE modulation deficits were found in chronic and FE schizophrenia and bipolar patients. These deficits were unrelated to treatment doses. SE modulation values did not differ between patients receiving or not antipsychotics, lithium, benzodiazepines or antidepressants. Structural connectivity values were unrelated to SE modulation. In schizophrenia, SE modulation was inversely related to negative symptoms and directly to verbal memory. In conclusion, SE modulation with cognition is decreased in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This decrease was not an effect of psychopharmacological treatment or structural connectivity and might reflect a deficit in synchronization of neural assemblies underlying cognitive activity in major psychoses.

本研究纳入79例精神分裂症患者（其中31例为首发精神分裂症（first episodes, FE））、29例双相障碍患者及48例健康对照者，对其在P300任务中脑电图（electroencephalogram, EEG）的SE（Stimulus Evoked）调节效应进行了评估。在亚样本中，研究人员采用弥散张量成像（diffusion tensor imaging, DTI）计算了结构网络连接参数。结果显示，慢性精神分裂症、首发精神分裂症及双相障碍患者均存在显著的SE调节缺陷，且该缺陷与药物治疗剂量无相关性。无论患者是否接受抗精神病药物、锂盐、苯二氮䓬类药物或抗抑郁药治疗，其SE调节值均无显著差异。结构连接参数与SE调节值亦无相关性。在精神分裂症患者中，SE调节值与阴性症状呈负相关，与言语记忆能力呈正相关。综上，精神分裂症与双相障碍患者中，与认知相关的SE调节效应均有所降低。该调节效应降低并非精神药物治疗或结构连接异常所致，或可反映重型精神疾病患者认知活动背后的神经集群同步化功能缺陷。