Decreased resting-state neural signal in the left angular gyrus as a potential neuroimaging biomarker of schizophrenia: An amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and support vector machine analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveSchizophrenia (SCH) is primarily diagnosed based on specific clinical symptoms, with the lack of any objective SCH-related biomarkers often resulting in patient misdiagnosis and the underdiagnosis of this condition. This study was developed to assess the utility of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values analyzed via support vector machine (SVM) methods as a means of diagnosing SCH.MethodsIn total, 131 SCH patients and 128 age- and gender-matched healthy control (HC) individuals underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), with the resultant data then being analyzed using ALFF values and SVM methods.ResultsRelative to HC individuals, patients with SCH exhibited ALFF reductions in the left angular gyrus (AG), fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right cerebellum, bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and precuneus (PCu) regions. No SCH patient brain regions exhibited significant increases in ALFF relative to HC individuals. SVM results indicated that reductions in ALFF values in the bilateral PCu can be used to effectively differentiate between SCH patients and HCs with respective accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity values of 73.36, 91.60, and 54.69%.ConclusionThese data indicate that SCH patients may exhibit characteristic reductions in regional brain activity, with decreased ALFF values of the bilateral PCu potentially offering value as a candidate biomarker capable of distinguishing between SCH patients and HCs.

Disturbances in theta-beta band oscillations in precuneus and aberrant effective connectivity within default mode network as potential biomarkers of chronic schizophrenia: an EEG resting-state study

“…Furthermore, some interesting ndings of our results showed that the left ANG is a node that gathers the most diverse inputs of information ow from the left frontal (mPFC, vlIFG) and right temporoparietal (aSTG, ANG) sources. This complements recent RS-fMRI studies revealing: i) reduced amplitudes of lowfrequency uctuations (ALFF) in the left ANG, which has been argued as a speci c biomarker of schizophrenia (Gao et al, 2022); ii) altered brain activity in this region in chronic (Zhou et al, 2019) or rst-episode patients (Alonso-Solís et al, 2012); iii) effective hyperconnectivity of the left fronto-parietal network, i.e., the increased inhibitory connectivity of left angular in SCH (Chahine et al, 2017). Moreover, as mentioned above, aberrant DMN functioning may be responsible for the manifestation of positive symptoms, such as auditory verbal hallucinations.…”

Impaired large-scale cortico–hippocampal network connectivity, including the anterior temporal and posterior medial systems, and its associations with cognition in patients with first-episode schizophrenia

“…The AG is the core hub in multiple subsystems of the brain network, affecting memory, semantic processing, reading, and word comprehension, and has been reported on frequently in the recent literature on episodic memory (Benoit and Schacter, 2015 ; Bellana et al, 2016 ). Several studies have discovered that asymmetric deterioration of the AG and a decrease in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations are associated with auditory hallucinations and confusion in schizophrenia patients (Niznikiewicz et al, 2000 ; Gao et al, 2022 ). Given the role of the angular gyrus and the hippocampus in episodic memory, the weakening of the FC between the angular gyrus and hippocampus observed in this study may represent the neurobiological mechanism of episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia.…”

Decreased degree centrality values as a potential neuroimaging biomarker for migraine: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study and support vector machine analysis

“…In the brain, blood flow and oxygenated hemoglobin fluctuate with the neuron activity, and thus changes in the BOLD signal can be recorded. Over the years, the BOLD-fMRI technology has been widely used to study neuropsychiatric brain diseases, such as temporal lobe epilepsy ( 6 , 7 ), depression ( 8 , 9 ), schizophrenia ( 10 , 11 ), and mild cognitive impairment ( 12 ). Thus, fMRI can be used to study the potential imaging mechanisms of various neuropsychiatric diseases.…”