Short-term effects of antipsychotic treatment on cerebral function in drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia revealed by "resting state" functional magnetic resonance imaging

Su Lui, Tao Li, Wei Deng, Lijun Jiang, Qizhu Wu, Hehan Tang, Qiang Yue, Xiaoqi Huang, Raymond C. Chan, David A. Collier, Shashwath A. Meda, Godfrey Pearlson, Andrea Mechelli, John A. Sweeney, Qiyong Gong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

290 Scopus citations

Abstract

Context: Most of what we know about antipsychotic drug effects is at the receptor level, distal from the neural system effects that mediate their clinical efficacy. Studying cerebral function in antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia before and after pharmacotherapy can enhance understanding of the therapeutic mechanisms of these clinically effective treatments. Objective: To examine alterations of regional and neural network function in antipsychotic-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia before and after treatment with second-generation antipsychotic medication. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Huaxi MR Research Center and Mental Health Centre of the West China Hospital. Participants: Thirty-four antipsychotic-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia were scanned using gradient-echo echo-planar imaging while in a resting state. After 6 weeks of antipsychotic treatment, patients were rescanned. Thirty-four matched healthy control subjects were studied at baseline for comparison purposes. Main Outcome Measures: The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of blood oxygen level-dependent signals, believed to reflect spontaneous neural activity, was used to characterize regional cerebral function. Functional connectivity across brain regions was evaluated using a seed voxel correlation approach and an independent component analysis. Changes in these measures after treatment were examined to characterize effects of antipsychotic drugs on regional function and functional integration. Results: After short-term treatment with second-generation antipsychotic medications, patients showed increased ALFF, particularly in the bilateral prefrontal and parietal cortex, left superior temporal cortex, and right caudate nucleus. Increased regional ALFF was associated with a reduction of clinical symptoms, and a widespread attenuation in functional connectivity was observed that was correlated with increased regional ALFF. Conclusions: We demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, that widespread increased regional synchronous neural activity occurs after antipsychotic therapy, accompanied by decreased integration of function across widely distributed neural networks. These findings contribute to the understanding of the complex systems-level effects of antipsychotic drugs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)783-792
Number of pages10
JournalArchives of general psychiatry
Volume67
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2010
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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