Work

The impact of indirect structure on functional connectivity in schizophrenia using a multiplex brain network

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: It is known that abnormal functional connectivity (FC) in schizophrenia (SZ) is closely related to structural connectivity (SC). We speculate that indirect SC also have an impact on FC in SZ patients. Conventional single-layer network has limitations for studying the relationship between indirect SC and FC. Thus, this study constructed a multiplex network based on structural connectivity and functional connectivity (SC-FC). The SC-FC bandwidth and SC-FC cost are used to analyze the impact of indirect SC on FC. Moreover, this paper proposed mediation ability, mediation cost, mediated strength and mediated cost to quantify the effects of mediator nodes and mediated nodes on indirect SC. The results show that SZ patients exhibit lower SC-FC bandwidth and SC-FC cost compared to healthy controls (HC), which could be caused by the limbic and subcortical network (LSN), default mode network (DMN) and visual network (VN). The mediator and mediated nodes in indirect SC of SZ patients also showed diminished effects. These findings suggest that functional communication ability and cost in SZ patients are influenced by indirect SC. This study provides new perspectives for understanding the relationship between indirect SC and FC, and provides strong evidence for interpreting the physiological mechanisms of SZ patients. • Construction of multiplex network based on structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC). • Using SC-FC bandwidth and SC-FC cost to analyze how indirect SC affects FC. • The SC-FC bandwidth and SC-FC cost of SZ patients were significantly reduced at whole-brain and module levels. • The role of nodes in affecting FC was quantified from mediator and mediated perspectives. • Results suggest that indirect SC in SZ patients results in reduced functional communication ability and cost.

Source: Journal of Psychiatric Research

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.09.023