AUTHOR=Giuliani Luigi , Pezzella Pasquale , Giordano Giulia Maria , Fazio Leonardo , Mucci Armida , Perrottelli Andrea , Blasi Giuseppe , Amore Mario , Rocca Paola , Rossi Alessandro , Bertolino Alessandro , Galderisi Silvana , Maj Mario 

TITLE=Illness-related variables and abnormalities of resting-state brain activity in schizophrenia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1458624

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1458624

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=The development of neuroimaging biomarkers in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) requires a refined clinical characterization. A limitation of the neuroimaging literature is the partial uptake of progress in characterizing disease-related features, particularly negative symptoms (NS) and cognitive impairment (CI).In the present study, we assessed NS and CI using up-to-date instruments and investigated the associations of abnormalities in brain resting-state (rs)-activity with disease-related features.Methods: Sixty-two community-dwelling SCZ subjects participated in the study. Multiple regression analyses were performed with the rs-activity of nine regions of interest as dependent variables and disease-related features as explanatory variables.Results: Attention/vigilance deficits were negatively associated with dorsal anterior cingulate rsactivity and, together with depression, were positively associated with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex rs-activity. These deficits and impairment of Reasoning/problem-solving, together with conceptual disorganization, were associated with right inferior parietal lobule and temporal parietal junction rs-activity. Independent of other features, the NS Expressive Deficit domain was associated with the left ventral caudate, while the Motivational Deficit was associated with the dorsal caudate rs-activity.Neurocognitive deficits and the two negative symptom domains are associated with different neural markers. Replications of these findings could foster the identification of clinically actionable biomarkers of poor functional outcomes.