Dysconnectivity in schizophrenia: Where are we now?

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 1110 - 1124
• Main Authors: PETTERSSON-YEO, William, ALLEN, Paul, BENETTI, Stefania, MCGUIRE, Philip, MECHELLI, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier 01.04.2011
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Databases, Bibliographic - statistics & numerical data; Frontal Lobe - pathology; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Medical sciences; Neural Pathways - blood supply; Neural Pathways - pathology; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - pathology; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Human; High risk; Genetic high risk; Ultra High Risk (UHR); Positron emission tomography (PET); Central nervous system; Schizophrenia; Review; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI); Encephalon; Diffusion tensor imaging; Psychosis; Early-onset schizophrenia (EOS); Age of onset; First episode; Genetics; Early; Connectivity; First-episode (FE); Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Positron emission tomography; Functional imaging; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.11.004

The disconnection hypothesis suggests that the core symptoms of schizophrenia (SZ) are related to aberrant, or 'dys-', connectivity between distinct brain regions. A proliferation of functional and structural neuroimaging studies have been conducted to investigate this hypothesis, across the full course of the disorder; from people at Ultra-High-Risk of developing psychosis to patients with chronic SZ. However the results of these studies have not always been consistent, and to date, there have been no attempts to summarise the results of both methodologies in conjunction. In this article, we systematically review both the structural and functional connectivity literature in SZ. The main trends to emerge are that schizophrenia is associated with connectivity reductions, as opposed to increases, relative to healthy controls, and that this is particularly evident in the connections involving the frontal lobe. These two trends appear to apply across all stages of the disorder, and to be independent of the neuroimaging methodology employed. We discuss the potential implications of these trends, and identify possible future investigative directions.