Patients with schizophrenia show aberrant patterns of basal ganglia activation: Evidence from ALE meta-analysis.

Jessica A Bernard,James R.M Goen,Vijay A Mittal,Raeana E Newberry,Courtney E Russell

doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2017.01.034

Jessica A Bernard, James R.M Goen + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2017.01.034

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Abstract

The diverse circuits and functional contributions of the basal ganglia, coupled with known differences in dopaminergic function in patients with schizophrenia, suggest they may be an important contributor to the etiology of the hallmark symptoms and cognitive dysfunction experienced by these patients. Using activation-likelihood-estimation meta-analysis of functional imaging research, we investigated differences in activation patterns in the basal ganglia in patients with schizophrenia, relative to healthy controls across task domains. This analysis included 42 functional neuroimaging studies, representing a variety of behavioral domains that have been linked to basal ganglia function in prior work. We provide important new information about the functional activation patterns and functional topography of the basal ganglia for different task domains in healthy controls. Crucially however, we demonstrate that across task domains, patients with schizophrenia show markedly decreased activation in the basal ganglia relative to healthy controls. Our results provide further support for basal ganglia dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia, and the broad dysfunction across task domains may contribute to the symptoms and cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.

Highlights

Across the psychosis spectrum, from youth exhibiting risk syndromes to patients with schizophrenia, there is evidence for basal ganglia abnormalities, including functional and structural differences, as well as dopaminergic receptor differences (Ellison-Wright et al, 2008; Fusar-Poli et al, 2011; Howes et al, 2011a, b; Perez-Costas et al, 2010; Salvador et al, 2010; Yoon et al, 2013)
Because the basal ganglia are known to have multiple loops and connections with the cortex in prefrontal, motor, and limbic regions (Draganski et al, 2008), we focused on task domains associated with these distinct loops that are known to be impacted in patients with schizophrenia
Using state-of-the-art neuroimaging meta-analysis methods we investigated basal ganglia activation across task domains in studies of patients with schizophrenia

Summary

Introduction

From youth exhibiting risk syndromes to patients with schizophrenia, there is evidence for basal ganglia abnormalities, including functional and structural differences, as well as dopaminergic receptor differences (Ellison-Wright et al, 2008; Fusar-Poli et al, 2011; Howes et al, 2011a, b; Perez-Costas et al, 2010; Salvador et al, 2010; Yoon et al, 2013). The third and most recent version of the dopamine hypothesis purports that numerous factors including genetic, environmental, and psychosocial factors, converge to result in dopaminergic dysfunction, and a final common pathway rests at the level of presynaptic striatal dopaminergic control (Howes and Kapur, 2009).

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