Citation

Tikàsz A, Potvin S, Dugré JR, Fahim C, Zaharieva V, Lipp O, Mendrek A, Dumais A. Front. Psychiatry 2020; 11: e143.

Affiliation

Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00143

PMID

32180744

PMCID

PMC7059347

Abstract

Background: Despite individuals with schizophrenia being at an elevated risk of violence compared to the general population, limited efforts have been invested in investigating the neurobiological etiology explaining the increase. Among the few studies examining functional disruptions pertaining to violent schizophrenia patients using fMRI, only one study has considered functional connectivity. The current state of knowledge does not allow to infer deficits in functional connectivity specific to distinct cognitive/emotional states that have been associated with the emergence of violence in schizophrenia, such as negative emotion processing. This study sought to identify disrupted connectivity among men with schizophrenia and a history of violence (SCZ+V), compared to men with schizophrenia without a history of violence (SCZ-V) and healthy controls, during negative emotion processing using fMRI. Methods: Twenty SCZ+V, 19 SCZ-V, and 21 healthy men were scanned while viewing negative images. Results: Negative images elicited an increased connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the bilateral rostral prefrontal cortex (rPFC), as well as a decreased functional connectivity between the frontal regions (bilateral rPFC and dACC) and the putamen and hippocampus in SCZ+V men as compared to SCZ-V men and healthy controls. Concurrently, the centrality of the dACC within the network was reduced in SCV+V subjects. Conclusions: These results suggest an inefficient integration of the information by the dACC between frontal and limbic regions in SCZ+V men during negative emotion processing and highlight the importance of the ACC in the neurobiological bases of violent behavior in schizophrenia.

Copyright © 2020 Tikàsz, Potvin, Dugré, Fahim, Zaharieva, Lipp, Mendrek and Dumais.

Language: en

Keywords

anterior cingulate cortex; fMRI; functional connectivity; negative emotions; schizophrenia; violence