Altered functional connectivity between sub-regions in the thalamus and cortex in schizophrenia patients measured by resting state BOLD fMRI at 7T

The thalamus is a small brain structure that relays neuronal signals between subcortical and cortical regions. Abnormal thalamocortical connectivity in schizophrenia has been reported in previous studies using blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) performed at 3T. However, anatomically the thalamus is not a single entity, but is subdivided into multiple distinct nuclei with different connections to various cortical regions. We sought to determine the potential benefit of using the enhanced sensitivity of BOLD fMRI at ultra-high magnetic field (7T) in exploring thalamo-cortical connectivity in schizophrenia based on subregions in the thalamus.

Source: Schizophrenia Research - November 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jun Hua, Nicholas I.S. Blair, Adrian Paez, Ann Choe, Anita D. Barber, Allison Brandt, Issel Anne L. Lim, Feng Xu, Vidyulata Kamath, James J. Pekar, Peter C.M. van Zijl, Christopher A. Ross, Russell L. Margolis Source Type: research