Increased amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus activation in schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations: An fMRI study using independent component analysis

Escartí, María Jose; de la Iglesia-Vayá, Maria; Martí-Bonmatí, Luis; Robles, Montserrat; Carbonell, Jose; Lull, Juan Jose; García-Martí, Gracián; Manjón, Jose Vicente; Aguilar, Eduardo Jesús; Aleman, André; Sanjuán, Julio

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2009.12.028

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 117, Issue 1 , Pages 31-41, March 2010

Increased amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus activation in schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations: An fMRI study using independent component analysis

María Jose Escartí
- Psychiatric Unit, Clinic Hospital, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 17, 46010 Valencia, Spain
- CIBERSAM, ISC III, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 15, 46010 Valencia, Spain
- Corresponding author. Psychiatric Unit Clinic Hospital, Avd Blasco Ibáñez, 17, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Tel.: +34 963862600x51407; fax: +34 963868893.
- These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Maria de la Iglesia-Vayá
- Biomedical Informatics Group (IBIME), The Institute for the Applications of Advanced Informatics and Communications Technologies, ITACA Institute, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
- Sagunto Hospital, Av. Ramón y Cajal, s/n, 46520 Sagunto, Valencia, Spain
- These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Luis Martí-Bonmatí
- Department of Radiology, Quirón Hospital, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 14, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Montserrat Robles
- Biomedical Informatics Group (IBIME), The Institute for the Applications of Advanced Informatics and Communications Technologies, ITACA Institute, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
Jose Carbonell
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Department, Prince Felipe Research Centre, Avda. Autopista del Saler, 16, 46012 Valencia, Spain
Juan Jose Lull
- Biomedical Informatics Group (IBIME), The Institute for the Applications of Advanced Informatics and Communications Technologies, ITACA Institute, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
Gracián García-Martí
- Department of Radiology, Quirón Hospital, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 14, 46010 Valencia, Spain
- CIBERSAM, ISC III, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 15, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Jose Vicente Manjón
- Biomedical Informatics Group (IBIME), The Institute for the Applications of Advanced Informatics and Communications Technologies, ITACA Institute, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
Eduardo Jesús Aguilar
- Sagunto Hospital, Av. Ramón y Cajal, s/n, 46520 Sagunto, Valencia, Spain
- CIBERSAM, ISC III, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 15, 46010 Valencia, Spain
André Aleman
- Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, A. Deusinglaan 2, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, A. Deusinglaan 2, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands
Julio Sanjuán
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 15, 46010 Valencia, Spain
- CIBERSAM, ISC III, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 15, 46010 Valencia, Spain

Received 21 August 2009; received in revised form 26 November 2009; accepted 19 December 2009. published online 13 January 2010.

Abstract

Objective

Hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia have strong emotional connotations. Functional neuroimaging techniques have been widely used to study brain activity in patients with schizophrenia with hallucinations or emotional impairments. However, few of these studies have investigated the association between hallucinations and emotional dysfunctions using an emotional auditory paradigm. Independent component analysis (ICA) is an analysis method that is especially useful for decomposing activation during complex cognitive tasks in which multiple operations occur simultaneously. Our aim in this study is to analyze brain activation after the presentation of emotional auditory stimuli in patients with schizophrenia with and without chronic auditory hallucinations using ICA methodology. It was hypothesized that functional connectivity differences in limbic regions responsible for emotional processing would be demonstrated.

Methods

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study compared neural activity in 41 patients with schizophrenia (27 with auditory hallucinations, 14 without auditory hallucinations) with 31 controls. Neural activity data was generated while participants were presented with an auditory paradigm containing emotional words. The comparison was performed using a multivariate approach, ICA. Differences in temporo-spatial aspects of limbic network were examined in three study groups.

Results

Limbic networks responded differently in patients with auditory hallucinations compared to healthy controls and patients without auditory hallucinations. Unlike control subjects and non-hallucinators, the group of hallucinatory patients showed an increase of activity in the parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala during the emotional session.

Conclusions

These findings may reflect an increase in parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala activity during passive listening of emotional words in patients with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations.

Abbreviations: AH, Auditory hallucinations, MRI, Magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, Functional magnetic resonance imaging, BPRS, Brief psychiatric rating scale, PANSS, Positive and negative syndrome scale, PSYRATS, Psychotic symptom rating scale, FOV, Field of view, ICA, Independent component analysis, SPM, Statistical parametric maps, BOLD, Blood oxygenation level dependent contrast, MDL, Minimum description length, PCA, Principal component analysis, COI, Component of interest, N.S., No statistical differences, SD, Standard deviation