The Analysis Of First-episode Schizophrenia Patients At Baseline And Follow-up After Antipsychotic Treatment-A MRI Study

Part 1 The change of topological metrics of brain functional network in first-episode schizophrenia patients after antipsychotic treatment Objective: To study the change of global topological metrics and local functional connection in first-episode patients after second generation antipsychotic treatment.Methods: A total of 38 first-episode schizophrenia patients and 38 age-and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited in current study.All participants received the magnetic resonance imging at baseline.The patients received scan and evaluation of symptoms for twice.The follow-up interval was 4 months.The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and high-resolution structural imaging data were collected for further topological analysis on brain functional complex network.FDR(false discovery ratio)was used for correction of multiple comparisons between clustering coefficient,characteristic path length,standardized clustering coefficient,standardized characteristic path length,small-worldness,global efficiency and local efficiency.The correlation analysis between network parameters and clinical improvement was carried out by Pearson’s correlation analysis.The significance threshold was set at 0.05.Results: After 4 months second generation antipsychotic treatment,no significant change of topological parameters were found.Correlation analysis found that the change of local efficiency was associated with the change of negative scores in schizophrenia patients.Furthermore,the local efficiency at baseline was positively associated with decrease of symptom severity.The strength of four functional connections were found to be increased after treatment,including the connection between left occipital fusiform gyrus and left temporal pole,right frontal pole and left middle temporal gyrus,right frontal pole and right middle temporal gyrus,as well the connection within precentral gyrus.Conclusion: The local efficiency of the topological parameters can serve as a potential objective biomarker as a reflection of clinical improvement after antipsychotic treatment.Moreover,local efficiency at baseline could possibly predict treatment response.Part 2 The volume of gray matter change after antipsychotic treatment in first-episode schizophrenia patients Objective: To examine the change of volume of gray matter in first-episode schizophrenia patients after second generation antipsychotic treatment.Methods: This study included 38 first-episode schizophrenia patients and 38 age-and gender-matched healthy controls.All subjected undertook high-resolution structural imaging,and the patient group undertook twice of the scan,as well as the clinical evaluation.The follow-up interval was 4 months.High-resolution structural data was further analyzed for voxel-based morphometry.The correction for multiple comparisons was carried out by threshold-free cluster enhancement.The correlation analysis between the change of gray matter volume and clinical parameters was performed by Pearson’s correlation analysis.The significance level was set at 0.05.Results: At baseline,schizophrenia patients showed smaller gray matter volume compared with healthy controls,mainly located at frontal lobe,parietal lobe and cingulate gyrus.After treatment,the decrease of gray matter volume exacerbated.Furthermore,we found significant reduction of gray matter volume in occipital lobe,but the correlation analysis revealed no significant result.Conclusion: Schizophrenia patients have smaller gray matter volume than healthy controls.Moreover,after antipsychotic treatment,the reduction becomes even worse,especially in occipital lobe.