Nicotine restores functional connectivity of the ventral attention network in schizophrenia

Smucny, Jason; Olincy, Ann; Tregellas, Jason R.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2016.04.015

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…The VAN is the principle network associated with ‘bottom-up’ (stimulus-driven) attention processing, is modulated by shifts in attention, and may be a functional index of distractibility (Shulman et al, 2002, 2007). To examine the effects of nicotine on VAN connectivity in schizophrenia patients and controls, our group analyzed connectivity during the selective attention task described above (Smucny et al, 2016b). Using psychophysiological interaction-based modeling, we found that nicotine restored functional connectivity of the VAN during the task in schizophrenia.…”

Section: Neuroimaging the Cognitive Effects Of Nicotine In Schizophreniamentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeting neuronal dysfunction in schizophrenia with nicotine: Evidence from neurophysiology to neuroimaging

Smucny

Tregellas

2017

J Psychopharmacol

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Patients with schizophrenia self-administer nicotine at rates higher than is self-administered for any other psychiatric illness. Although the reasons are unclear, one hypothesis suggests that nicotine is a form of ‘self-medication’ in order to restore normal levels of nicotinic signaling and target abnormalities in neuronal function associated with cognitive processes. This brief review discusses evidence from neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia patients that nicotinic agonists may effectively target dysfunctional neuronal circuits in the illness. Evidence suggests that nicotine significantly modulates a number of these circuits, although relatively few studies have used modern neuroimaging techniques (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) to examine the effects of nicotinic drugs on disease-related neurobiology. The neuronal effects of nicotine and other nicotinic agonists in schizophrenia remain a priority for psychiatry research.

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Section: Neuroimaging the Cognitive Effects Of Nicotine In Schizophreniamentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeting neuronal dysfunction in schizophrenia with nicotine: Evidence from neurophysiology to neuroimaging

Smucny

Tregellas

2017

J Psychopharmacol

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“…Evidence of this effect has been reported using fMRI (177–182) and MEG (183). Future connectivity studies should incorporate these variables in their analyses.…”

Section: Challenges Pitfalls and Methodological Recommendations Formentioning

confidence: 87%

Alterations of Intrinsic Brain Connectivity Patterns in Depression and Bipolar Disorders: A Critical Assessment of Magnetoencephalography-Based Evidence

et al. 2017

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Despite being the object of a thriving field of clinical research, the investigation of intrinsic brain network alterations in psychiatric illnesses is still in its early days. Because the pathological alterations are predominantly probed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), many questions about the electrophysiological bases of resting-state alterations in psychiatric disorders, particularly among mood disorder patients, remain unanswered. Alongside important research using electroencephalography (EEG), the specific recent contributions and future promise of magnetoencephalography (MEG) in this field are not fully recognized and valued. Here, we provide a critical review of recent findings from MEG resting-state connectivity within major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). The clinical MEG resting-state results are compared with those previously reported with fMRI and EEG. Taken together, MEG appears to be a promising but still critically underexploited technique to unravel the neurophysiological mechanisms that mediate abnormal (both hyper- and hypo-) connectivity patterns involved in MDD and BD. In particular, a major strength of MEG is its ability to provide source-space estimations of neuromagnetic long-range rhythmic synchronization at various frequencies (i.e., oscillatory coupling). The reviewed literature highlights the relevance of probing local and interregional rhythmic synchronization to explore the pathophysiological underpinnings of each disorder. However, before we can fully take advantage of MEG connectivity analyses in psychiatry, several limitations inherent to MEG connectivity analyses need to be understood and taken into account. Thus, we also discuss current methodological challenges and outline paths for future research. MEG resting-state studies provide an important window onto perturbed spontaneous oscillatory brain networks and hence supply an important complement to fMRI-based resting-state measurements in psychiatric populations.

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“…In particular, our findings of disrupted connectivity between the ventral attention network and dorsal attention network help elucidate the neural underpinnings of poor attentional control, a fundamental impairment in schizophrenia (e.g., (Nuechterlein et al, 2009)). Understanding the nature of network mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits of schizophrenia and how regional organization within and between networks is disrupted in terms of connectivity will aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies (Hwang et al, 2010; Smucny et al, 2016a, 2016b, 2015) and may help shed light on the pathophysiology of this disorder.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional connectivity when detecting rare visual targets in schizophrenia

Jimenez

Lee

Green

et al. 2017

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging

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Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate difficulties in attending to important stimuli (e.g., targets) and ignoring distractors (e.g., non-targets). We used a visual oddball task during fMRI to examine functional connectivity within and between the ventral and dorsal attention networks to determine the relative contribution of each network to detection of rare visual targets in schizophrenia. The sample comprised 25 schizophrenia patients and 27 healthy controls. Psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to examine whole-brain functional connectivity in response to targets. We used the right temporo parietal junction (TPJ) as the seed region for the ventral network and the right medial intraparietal sulcus (IPS) as the seed region for the dorsal network. We found that connectivity between right IPS and right anterior insula (AI; a component of the ventral network) was significantly greater in controls than patients. Expected patterns of within- and between-network connectivity for right TPJ were observed in controls, and not significantly different in patients. These findings indicate functional connectivity deficits between the dorsal and ventral attention networks in schizophrenia that may create problems in processing relevant versus irrelevant stimuli. Understanding the nature of network disruptions underlying cognitive deficits of schizophrenia may help shed light on the pathophysiology of this disorder.

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Nicotine restores functional connectivity of the ventral attention network in schizophrenia

Cited by 15 publications

References 60 publications

Targeting neuronal dysfunction in schizophrenia with nicotine: Evidence from neurophysiology to neuroimaging

Targeting neuronal dysfunction in schizophrenia with nicotine: Evidence from neurophysiology to neuroimaging

Alterations of Intrinsic Brain Connectivity Patterns in Depression and Bipolar Disorders: A Critical Assessment of Magnetoencephalography-Based Evidence

Functional connectivity when detecting rare visual targets in schizophrenia

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