Prominent pathological hypotheses for schizophrenia include auditory processing deficits and dysconnectivity within cerebral networks. However, most neuroimaging studies have focused on impairments in either resting-state or task-related functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia. The aims of our study were to examine (1) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals during auditory steady-state response (ASSR) tasks, (2) functional connectivity during the resting-state and ASSR tasks and (3) state shifts between the resting-state and ASSR tasks in patients with schizophrenia. To reduce the functional consequences of scanner noise, we employed resting-state and sparse sampling auditory fMRI paradigms in 25 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy controls. Auditory stimuli were binaural click trains at frequencies of 20, 30, 40 and 80 Hz. Based on the detected ASSR-evoked BOLD signals, we examined the functional connectivity between the thalamus and bilateral auditory cortex during both the resting state and ASSR task state, as well as their alterations. The schizophrenia group exhibited significantly diminished BOLD signals in the bilateral auditory cortex and thalamus during the 80 Hz ASSR task (corrected p < 0.05). We observed a significant inverse relationship between the resting state and ASSR task state in altered functional connectivity within the thalamo-auditory network in schizophrenia patients. Specifically, our findings demonstrated stronger functional connectivity in the resting state (p < 0.004) and reduced functional connectivity during the ASSR task (p = 0.048), which was mediated by abnormal state shifts, within the schizophrenia group. These results highlight the presence of abnormal thalamocortical connectivity associated with deficits in the shift between resting and task states in patients with schizophrenia.

中文翻译：

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精神分裂症患者丘脑皮质连接异常以及静息状态和任务状态之间的转变

精神分裂症的主要病理学假说包括听觉处理缺陷和大脑网络内的连接障碍。然而，大多数神经影像学研究都集中在精神分裂症患者静息状态或任务相关功能连接的损伤上。我们研究的目的是检查 (1) 听觉稳态反应 (ASSR) 任务期间的血氧水平依赖性 (BOLD) 信号，(2) 静息状态和 ASSR 任务期间的功能连接，以及 (3) 状态转换精神分裂症患者的静息态任务和 ASSR 任务之间的关系。为了减少扫描仪噪声的功能后果，我们对 25 名精神分裂症患者和 25 名健康对照者采用了静息态和稀疏采样听觉功能磁共振成像范例。听觉刺激是频率为 20、30、40 和 80 Hz 的双耳咔嗒声。基于检测到的 ASSR 诱发的 BOLD 信号，我们检查了静息状态和 ASSR 任务状态下丘脑和双侧听觉皮层之间的功能连接及其变化。在 80 Hz ASSR 任务中，精神分裂症组的双侧听觉皮层和丘脑中的 BOLD 信号显着减弱（校正后的p  < 0.05）。我们观察到精神分裂症患者的丘脑听觉网络内的功能连接改变，静息状态和 ASSR 任务状态之间存在显着的负相关关系。具体来说，我们的研究结果表明，在精神分裂症组中，静息状态下的功能连接性更强（p  < 0.004），而 ASSR 任务期间的功能连接性降低（p  = 0.048），这是由异常状态转变介导的。这些结果强调了精神分裂症患者存在与静息状态和任务状态之间转换缺陷相关的丘脑皮质连接异常。